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Amfcof P.H.OVW* B«*1«W. 

i ET1K1 (LIE [HI H M 

Showing lie I.ehigh River, Lehigh Canal, Lehigh fa y, and North Pennsylvania Rail Road; 






o? 



HISTORY 



LEHIGH YALLEY 



CONTAINING 



A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 



RELATING TO ITS 



HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES, 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES, ETC. 



BY 

M. S. HENRY 



ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS. 



EASTON, PA.: 
PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & CORWIN 

1860. 



A c 

V 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1860, hy 

BIXLER & COR WIN, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



COLLINS, PRINTER, 
705 JAYNE STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



iH&ltf 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NO. 
1. 

2. 
3. 

4 4 
5. 



^9. 

H.O. 
Hi. 

\2. 

•13. 
^4. 
-46. 

16. 

•VI. 

48. 

««L9. 

-20. 

-21. 

22. 

23. 

24. 
-25. 
-26. 
--27. 
*28. 
^29. 
^80. 

31. 

32. 

33. 

34. 

35. 
^ 36. 

37. 

38. 



Map of the Lehigh Valley (folding). 

Portrait of Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves . 

View of Easton (folding) 1 "' . 

Portrait of Hon. James M. Porter-' . 

Portrait of Hon. Washington M'Cartney^ 

Portrait of Hon. A. H. Reeder "T 

Portrait of Hon. H. D. Maxwell''' 

View of Bethlehem (folding) "' . 

View of Eagle Hotel (Bethlehem) 

View of Sun Hotel (Bethlehem) 4 " 

View of Bethlehem Islands '* 

View of Lehigh Zinc Works ^ . 

Portrait of Hon. Henry King*^ . 

View of Allentown (folding)'- 

View of Allentown Seminary 

View of Allentown Iron Furnaces 

Portrait of Samuel Lewis "". 

Portrait of David Thomas 1- '. 

View of Lehigh Crane Iron Works ^ . 

View of David Thomas's Residence ■. 

View of Catasauqua and Fogelsvilje Railroad Bridge 

View of Hokendauqua Iron Works'" . 

View of Slatinfftori" .... 

View of Lehigh Water Gap 

View of Mauch Chunk (from the Narrows 

Poi'trait of Hon. Asa Packer v . 

View of Mansion House (Mauch Chunk) 

View of Mount Pisgah Plane *' . 

View of Mauch Chunk (from Mount Pisgah) 

View of Switch Back Railroad' . 

View of Planes of the Hazleton Coal Company (Penn Ha\ 

View of E. A. Packer & Co.'s Colliery (Stockton) 

Portrait of A. L. Foster 

Portrait of Josiah White*" . 

Portrait of Erskine Hazard 

Portrait of E. A. Douglas * . 

Portrait of R. H. Sayre " . 

Portrait of A. G. Brodhead 



16 

48'- 

72^ 

96 
112 ■ 
144- 
172* 
184- 
200- 
224' ' 
236- 
264'- 
272 - 
280- 
286 
2S8-- 
292- 
294- 
296- 

29a- 
3oa- 

304- 
308^ 
336** 

344- 

348- 

352- 

356 • 

360- 

36# 

366 

368 

375 • 

375 

385** 

395 



A ' 

v 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

BIXLER & COR WIN, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



COLLINS, PRINTER, 
705 JAYNE STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



iH**H¥ 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



NO. 
1. 

2. 
■ 3. 
4 4 

5. 
"~-€. 

7. 

^8. 

*9. 

~i0. 

Hi- 
>2. 

-13. 

S*4. 

S>5. 

16. 

■*7. 

•48. 
•49. 
-20. 

*ai. 

•22. 

23. 
"24. 
-25. 
-26. 
-27. 
^28. 

^30. 
31. 

32. 

33. 
-34. 

35. 
V 36. 

37. 

38. 



Map of the Lehigh Valley (folding). 

Portrait of Hon. Samuel Sitgreaves . 

View of Easton (folding) ^ . 

Portrait of Hon. James M. Porter**" . 

Portrait of Hon. Washington McCartney*' 

Portrait of Hon. A. H. Eeeder •T 

Portrait of Hon. H. D. Maxwell'' 

View of Bethlehem (folding)*" . 

View of Eagle Hotel (Bethlehem) 

View of Sun Hotel (Bethlehem) 4 - 

View of Bethlehem Islands " 

View of Lehigh Zinc Works ^ . 

Portrait of Hon. Henry King 1 "' . 

View of Allentown (folding)* 

View of Allentown Seminary 

View of Allentown Iron Furnaces 

Portrait of Samuel Lewis "". 

Portrait of David Thomas'*''. 

View of Lehigh Crane Iron Works 

View of David Thomas's Eesidence 

View of Catasauqua and Fogelsvilje Railroad Bridge 

View of Hokendauqua Iron Works v . 

View of Slatinarton" .... 
is' 

View of Lehigh Water Gap 

View of Mauch Chunk (from the Narrows 

Poi'trait of Hon. Asa Packer v . 

View of Mansion House (Mauch Chunk) 

View of Mount Pisgah Plane "" . 

View of Mauch Chunk (from Mount Pisgah) 

View of Switch Back Railroad' . 

View of Planes of the Hazleton Coal Company (Penn Ha\ 

View of E. A. Packer & Co.'s Colliery (Stockton) 

Portrait of A. L. Foster 

Portrait of Josiah White* . 

Portrait of Erskine Hazard 

Portrait of E. A. Douglas v . 

Portrait of R. H. Sayre «- 

Portrait of A. G. Brodhead 



en)* 



PAGE 
16 

48* 
72*"' 

96 
112 • 
144- 
172* 

184- 

200- 

224 ; ' 

236- 

264- 

272 * 

280- 

286 

288-** 

292- 

294- 

296 

298/ 

300*' 

304- 

308* 

336^ 

344- 

34S- 

352' 

356 • 

360- 

36# 

366 

368 

375 • 

375 

385 •' 

395 

400 



PREFACE. 



Since the completion of the Lehigh Valley Eailroad this region 
of country has been visited by thousands — a large proportion of 
whom have come solely with the view of obtaining recreation, and 
a change from the old round of tours which, from frequent repeti- 
tion, no longer yield them the same freshness of attraction as in 
former times. They have been gratified and delighted with the 
beauty of the scenery, novelty of the objects, and exhilarating 
salubrity of the mountain atmosphere. Many of them have re- 
turned from time to time, always finding something new on which 
they could dwell with pleasure. With but few exceptions, they 
have expressed their regret that a book descriptive of the many 
objects of interest had never been published. With the object in 
view of instructing not only the tourist, but also the resident of 
the Lehigh Valley, this volume has been prepared. We expected, 
when we commenced, to complete it in 250 pages, but as we pro- 
gressed in the work, new sources of information were opened up 
to us, and we were almost involuntarily tempted to become more 
and more diffuse ; the consequence has been, that our 250 pages 
have been swollen to over 400. We trust, however, that the 
matter furnished will not be without interest. At all events, we 
have endeavored to fulfil our promise made at the outset, to fur- 
nish an authentic and complete history of all the towns on the 
Lehigh Valley Eailroad. To make the work still more enter- 
taining, it has been profusely illustrated by beautiful lithographic 

1* 



Vi PREFACE. 

views of the scenery, and portraits of the leading men in the 
valley. 

"We have commenced the work by an Outline History of Penn- 
sylvania, and followed it by a History of Old Northampton 
County, Histories of Northampton, Lehigh, and Carbon Counties ; 
complete histories of all the towns and villages in the valley, from 
their first settlement down to the present time; and histories of 
the Lehigh Canal, Lehigh Valley and Beaver Meadow Kailroads, 
&c. &c. 

The short biographical sketches interspersed throughout the 
work, of men distinguished in their own community, but not 
much beyond, seldom find an appropriate place in a history of the 
ordinary form, and yet it is important that they should be pre- 
served. The topographical and statistical information embodied 
in the work, is designed to connect the history of the *past with 
the present state of manners and improvements, and to present 
the features of the two periods in striking contrast; and although 
to some minds these details may seem out of place in an historical 
work, yet it should be remembered that the statistics of to day 
may be the history of ten years hence. Many of the facts here 
recorded, both statistical and historical, may seem trivial or 
tediously minute to the general reader, ana yet such facts have a 
local interest, and for that reason have been inserted. The mate- 
rials for the work have not been gathered without great personal 
labor and heavy expense. Eecourse has not only been had to 
many private and public libraries, but the compiler has spent 
much time in each of the counties, examining ancient newspapers 
and musty manuscripts, conversing with aged pioneers, and col- 
lecting from them orally many interesting facts never before pub- 
lished, which otherwise would probably not have been preserved. 

There will doubtless be some who may think the work has been 
illy performed, because some fact with which they were familiar 
has been overlooked, or because some slight mistake may have 
been discovered among the thousands of matters which have 
formed the material of our history. We have only to say to those 



PREFACE. Vll 

who are disposed to find fault, that they are at perfect liberty to 
try their skill in writing a history, and if they are more successful 
than ourselves, we will esteem them fortunate. 

We must acknowledge that the work is confined mainly to a 
statement of facts, which, from the space a work of this kind has 
necessarily limited us, has precluded, in a great degree, grace of 
style; but we hope the solid merit of authenticity will compensate 
the reader for some abruptness of diction. We would be ungrate- 
ful to neglect to acknowledge our indebtedness to several friends 
and correspondents who have rendered important aid during the 
progress of the work. They have had a large share in rescuing 
from oblivion many interesting facts, and in making up what will 
be at "least a curious contribution to the history of the State. To 
the authors, both ancient and contemporary, from whom extracts 
have been made, credit has generally been given in the body of 
the work. 

Acknowledgments are due and are here most heartily rendered 
to Hon. James M. Porter, Hon. H. D. Maxwell, Hon. Asa Packer, 
Robert E. Wright, Esq., Robert H. Sayre, Edwin Walter, David 
Thomas, A. L. Foster, Melchior Horn, Leivis H. Stout, Joseph J. 
MicJcley, Prof. Cattell, Chas. Brodhead, Sol. W. Roberts, J. N. Hut- 
chinson, A. H. Frack-er, Thomas Scatter good, Robert McDowell, D. D. 
Jones, A. O. Brodhead, T. L. Foster, Wm. Lilly, Daniel Bertsch, Jr., 
Rufus Grider, and the Officers and Employees of the Lehigh Valley 
and North Pennsylvania Railroads generally. It is hoped that 
many to whom the writer has been indebted for valuable informa- 
tion, will not attribute to forgetfulness or ingratitude the omission 
of their names in the above short list of kind friends, which space 
permits him specially to mention. 

Special thanks are due to Mr. W. H. Bixler, one of the publishers 
of the work, for his valuable aid in compiling the last three num- 
bers. Thanks are also due to Messrs. Osborn & Son, Photographers, 
of Bethlehem, for the able manner in which they produced the 
excellent views of the towns, from which the lithographs have 



Vlil PREFACE. 

been copied. And last, though not least, to Mr. T. K. Collins, and 
his able assistant, Mr. Huff, of Philadelphia, for the good taste they 
have displayed in the arrangement of the letter press, as well as 
for the kind and gentlemanly deportment which has characterized 
them throughout the period of our transactions with them. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Kittatinny Valley (in which the greater portibn of the 
Lehigh Valley is included) is continuous and unbroken from Lake 
Champlain to Tennessee, if not to the Mississippi River. It is 
bounded by the Kittatinny or Blue Mountains on the north, and 
by the South Mountain (the Blue Ridge of Virginia) on the south. 
Its average breadth from the Delaware River to the Susquehanna 
is about twelve to fifteen miles. It is, take it all for all, the largest 
and most fertile valley of continuous land in the world. The name 
''Kittatinny," given to the valley, means "endless;" the length of 
it being so great that the Indians supposed there was no end to it. 
The northern half is argillaceous slate, and the southern limestone. 
Perhaps the richest portion of the land is near the line where the 
two soils meet, and in which the lime predominates. The streak 
extends along by Nazareth, Bath, Siegfried's Bridge, and Fogels- 
ville, in Northampton and Lehigh Counties. It is at this point 
that hydraulic cement is found throughout the length of the valley, 
of the very best quality, and which is prepared in large quantities 
on the Lehigh near Whitehall. A distinguished statesman of the 
United States, who had occasion to pass through this valley, said, 
that previous to that trip, he had been disposed to put down 
what he heard about Pennsylvania husbandry, &c, to some extent, 
to State boasting — but that he must now give it up ; for he had 
never in all his life (during which he had travelled over a great 
deal of the United States, as well as considerably in Europe) seen 



X INTRODUCTION. 

any continuous one hundred miles which exhibits such uniform 
evidence of wealth and independence as he observed in the valley 
from Harrisburg to Easton. "There is," said he, "no place on the 
road where you can travel half a mile, that you do not find a good 
substantial farm-house and barn of such dimensions as are nowhere 
else to be met with, with well-cultivated farms; the fence rows 
clear of brush, and the fields filled with such crops of grain and 
grass as are hardly to be met with, even in detached farms else- 
where. The horses and cattle are fine and well-fed, and their 
masters and mistresses are literally living on the fat of the land. 
Here the eye meets with the constant assurance ' that freemen own, 
and freemen cultivate the soilf" 

As we have before said, the greater portion of the Lehigh Valley 
is included in this great and beautiful " Kittatinny Valley." The 
Lehigh Kiver is a mountainous stream, and meanders through a 
series of natural scenes not excelled if equalled in the United 
States. Its extreme northern sources are in the southern part of 
Wayne County and in Luzerne near Wilkesbarre. The stream 
runs in a southerly course until it reaches Allentown, where it 
changes its direction and continues its course nearly due east for 
eighteen miles, and empties into the Delaware at Easton. 

In every portion of the Lehigh Valley from Easton to White 
Haven (a distance of seventy miles), nature appears to have diffused 
her beauties of grandeur and magnificence on every hand, but so 
diversified that not a single monotonous view occurs. Besides the 
grandeur of its mountains, its waterfalls, its wooded and barren 
mountain sides, its mountain walls and frightful precipices — the 
beautiful farms, extensive manufactories, splendid buildings, &c. &c. 
have been the theme of admiration for many years. The general 
appearance of the valley everywhere indicates prosperity and 
plenty ; the land is among the best cultivated and best producing 
land in the country. 

As an iron producing and general mineral locality, it probably 
bears about the same relation to Pennsylvania as Pennsylvania 
does to the other States of the Union. With inexhaustible sup- 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

plies of the best kinds of coal for industrial purposes ; with rich 
hematite iron ores scattered over a good portion of its length ; 
within a few hours' transport of the magnetic oxide ores of New 
Jersey; with iron smelting furnaces and machinery of the largest 
description, producing iron of every variety of property, and of 
quality not excelled anywhere for tenacity, fusibility, and that 
quicksilvery liquidity, when in a state of fusion, so much prized 
by iron founders, and so valuable for making castings of every 
description. With splendid canal and railroad facilities for trans- 
portation to the great seaports of New York and Philadelphia; 
and flowing through the midst of this rich mineral valley a large 
and beautiful river, 

Meandering through its greenwood glades ; 

Never resting ; running ever, 

In purling streams, or bright cascades, 

a friendly harbinger of health and cleanliness to the many homes 
scattered along its beautiful banks; and with a climate and other 
conditions of health, for the workmen which would be employed, 
not excelled anywhere in these United States. 

Twenty years ago there was not a single bar of iron smelted on 
the banks of the Lehigh ; now there are seventeen furnaces, which 
make about 150,000 tons of pig metal per annum. In 1820 (forty 
years ago), only 365 tons of anthracite coal was sent to market 
from the Lehigh region; in 1859, the Lehigh Canal carried to 
market 1,050,659 tons, the Lehigh Valley Eailroad 577,651 tons, 
and the Beaver Meadow Eailroad 746,313 tons. Can any other 
valley in the State or Union of equal size show a corresponding 
increase in any one or all the branches of its internal trade ? 

Who will venture to state what will be the extent of the coal 
and iron trade alone, of the Lehigh Valley, thirty years hence ? 

Manufactories of all kinds have kept pace with the increase of 
the iron and coal business. In 1853, the extensive zinc furnaces 
were erected near Bethlehem, and in estimating their value to 
the valley of the Lehigh, it must be borne in mind that the 
$300,000 worth of merchandise which they can produce annually 



xii INTRODUCTION", 

is made exclusively from the natural products of the valley ; the 
mines which belong to the company are situated about four miles 
from Bethlehem, and produce about 50,000 tons of zinc ore per 
annum. The Lehigh Valley also contains large beds of hydraulic 
cement, which is prepared in extensive quantities, and finds a 
ready market in New York and Philadelphia. The extensive 
paint mines, which were discovered a few years ago near the 
Lehigh Gap, also bid fair to be a fruitful source of revenue to this 
region. 

The towns and villages throughout the whole valley have also 
greatly increased in the last ten years, many of them having more 
than doubled their population; in like proportion has the number 
of miscellaneous manufactories increased, among which the manu- 
facture of roofing and school slates, at Slatington, is one of the 
most extensive. The Lehigh Valley is divided in two parts by 
the Blue Mountains; the lower part is excellent farm land, and 
contains large deposits of hematite iron ore, hydraulic cement, zinc 
ore, seams of excellent soft slate, and abounds with excellent lime- 
stone ; above the Blue Mountain it has large coal deposits, and 
fine timber lands. 

The Lehigh Canal and the Lehigh Valley Railroad afford every 
facility to the manufacturer for the conveyance of his manu- 
factures to both, of the great commercial emporiums of the United 
States. And, in conclusion, we would say to capitalists abroad, 
no section of our country presents greater inducements to invest 
money than the Lehigh Valley ; the advantages it possesses for the 
manufacture of iron, either in the amount of power to be applied, 
the abundance and variety of coal, ore, limestone, and other neces- 
sary materials ; the ease and shortness of communication with all 
the markets, and salubrity of the location, and the cheapness of 
living, and of all the raw materials, is equal if not superior to any 
other in the United States. We would invite those whose interest 
it will be to do so, to come and see and judge for themselves. 



HISTORY OF THE LEHIGH VALLEY. 



PHILLIPSBITRG, N. J.* 

Phillipsbueg is one of the largest towns in Warren County, 
New Jersey, and is situated on the banks of the Delaware River, 
directly opposite the mouth of the Lehigh, at the juncture of the 
New Jersey Central, Belvidere Delaware, and Lehigh Valley Rail- 
roads, and is the western terminus of the New Jersey Central R. R. 
and Morris Canal, from New York, and the eastern terminus of 
the Lehigh Yalley R. R„, from Mauch Chunk. The town being on 
much higher ground than the lower part of Baston, it presents a 
most commanding appearance from that place. The present site 
of the town, according to a map made by Yonder Donk, a Dutch 
engineer, in 1654, was at that time called Chinktewunk, and was 
an Indian settlement. It was the custom of the Indians to make 
a clearing of the land immediately surrounding their villages, for 
the purpose of raising corn. The " flats," or " old fields," as Mr. 
Parsons calls them, in his draft of Easton and vicinity, made in 
1755, immediately above the Delaware bridge, were used by the 
natives for this purpose. The fact of there being an Indian vil- 
lage here, is also corroborated by the numerous flint arrowheads, 

* Properly speaking, Phillipsburg is not in the Valley of the Lehigh, but as it 
is the eastern terminus of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and its business interests 
being so intimately identified with those of Easton, we feel justified in giving it 
the same attention as other towns situated on the Lehigh Valley R. R. 
1 



2 PHILLIPSBURG. 

hatchets, and corn-pounders, that have been found on the fields.* 
The origin of the name Phillipsburg is not well known, the general 
impression being, that it was named after a large landholder of the 
name of Phillips, who resided here at an early day ; it is the opinion 
of the writer that it is named in honor of an old influential Indian 
chief of that name, who resided here. This supposition appears 
to be the most plausible, as we find the name of Phillipsburg upon 
a " map of the inhabited parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey," 
published by Evans, in 1 749, which was before the time when Mr. 
Phillips resided here. This Indian chief Phillip, was an intimate 
friend of the great chief Teedyuscung. Phillip, with fourteen other 
Indians, in December, 1755, was arrested by the Jersey people, and 
brought to Easton (it being the nearest place containing a jail), and 
committed to prison, not for any crime they had committed, but 
because so great was the panic created by the massacre at Gnaden- 
hutten, on November 24 of the same year, that all Indians living 
among the whites were suspected. 

At the treaty held at Easton, commencing July 4, 1756, the 
great chief Teedyuscung was present as spokesman, and in several 
of his speeches greatly interested himself in their behalf. Having 
been born in New Jersey, he was well acquainted with these 
Indians, and more particularly with the chief, Phillip. The event 
occasioned a correspondence between Gov. Denny, of Pennsylvania, 
and Gov. Belcher, of New Jersey, from which the following is 
extracted. Gov. Denny, writing to Gov. Belcher, says :f " You will 
please to observe that in the course of the conference, the chief 
Teedyuscung has warmly solicited me to use my good offices with 
you, that the Indians now living in your province have liberty, if 
they please, to go and visit their relatives and friends in the Indian 
country ; the chief thinks when the Indians come to see one an- 
other, and learn how friendly those in your province have been 
treated, it will dispose them to peace. He particularly desires this 

* Charles Sitgreaves, Esq., of Phillipsburg, has a fine collection of these curi- 
osities, 
f Colonial Records, vol. vii. page 360. 



THE INDIAN CHIEF PHILLIP. 3 

favor for one of your Indians, called Phillip, who it appears is an 
old man, and had at first been put in prison, but was released, and 
now lives along with the other Indians." 

We also find that the Executive Council of New Jersey, at 
Elizabethtown, on March 31, 1757,* advised his Excellency the 
Governor to permit the Indian chief, Phillip, to pass to Philadel- 
phia. There are numerous other circumstances we might mention, 
did our space permit, which would go still further to corroborate 
the supposition that the chief Phillip was a great favorite as well 
as an influential man among his people, and therefore entitled to 
this honor. This village was evidently settled by the white people 
before Easton,f inasmuch as Easton was not laid out until some 
time after different maps were published giving the name of Phil- 
lipsburg. About the time Easton was laid out, the land upon 
which Phillipsburg is built was owned by the heirs of David 
Martin,^ ferryman, and a Mr. Cox, a merchant of Philadelphia, 
Mr. Cox owning the principal part, about 411 acres, among which 
was the "old fields, 7 ' on which, on account of their beautiful loca- 
tion and the advantages they appeared to have for the purposes of 
a town over the land on the opposite or Easton side of the river, 

* Colonial Records, vol. vii. page 468. 

t Mr. Philip Reese, an old gentleman of the town, informed the writer that in 
his youth there lived an old lady by the name of Meyers, who said, when her 
parents first came to Phillipsburg, there were eleven houses there, and but three 
on the opposite side of the river. These houses were situated on the south side 
of the N. J. C. R. R. track, near the wagon bridge which crosses the road. Mr. 
Reese says that some of the cellar walls were there when he built his house a few 
years ago. 

$ David Martin obtained the first grant and patent for ferrying at the " forks of 
the Delaware in 1739," of which the following is an extract : " Giving and granting 
to the said David Martin, his heirs and assigns, the privilege of constructing a ferry 
from the Pennsylvania shore, by the upper end of an island called ' Tinnicum ' to 
the place in said county of Morris called * Marble Mountain,' about one mile above 
the 'forks of Delaware,' the undivided right to ferry over horses, cows, sheep 
mules, &c. &c." Mr. Martin's ferrying privileges therefore extended about thirteen 
miles, as Tinnicum Island is about twelve miles below Phillipsburg, and Marble 
Mountain about one mile above. 



4 PHILLIPSBURG. 

he contemplated in 1752 to lay out a town. This intention of Mr. 
Cox's appeared to greatly alarm the proprietors of Pennsylvania, 
who were much afraid that it would injure the infant town of 
Easton. In a letter from Thomas Penn, dated May 9, 1752,* to 
Eichard Peters, he says : " I think we should secure all the land 
we can on the Jersey side of the water." The intention evidently 
being to get this land in their possession and thus prevent any 
settlement there. 

Mr. Cox finally abandoned his project of laying out a town on 
the Jersey side. Easton in the meantime having been made the 
seat of justice for the then new county of Northampton, and having 
a jail in which to confine any lawless characters that might attempt 
injury to the settlers, soon acquired a position which proved pre- 
judicial to the welfare of Phillipsburg. It therefore remained for 
many years a straggling village, in which there was but little 
improvement made. 

The opening of the Morris Canal, in 1832, infused some life into 
it, but this was of short duration, and the village soon relapsed 
into its former listless state. A traveller who passed through here 
in 1849, thus describes the place: "We passed through the long 
single street of the ancient village of Phillipsburg, which tradition 
says was laid out long before Easton was thought of, and which 
now contains some thirty or forty houses, scattered in straggling 
order over a distance of half a mile." The village, however, 
about this time began to make considerable improvement, in 
expectation of the completion of the New Jersey Central Bail- 
road, and by the time this road was completed, in 1852, it had 
grown to be a considerable town, most of the building lots having 
been taken up and built upon. The great difficulty that now 
appeared was the want of ground, upon which to build, the de- 
mand being greater than the supply. Advantage was taken of 
this want by a number of gentlemen in Phillipsburg and Easton, 
who formed themselves into a Company, under the title of the 

* Pennsylvania Historical Society's Manuscript. 



PHILLIPSBURG LAND COMPANY. 5 

" Phillipsburg Land Company," and purchased, in 1853, the land 
adjoining the town, known as the " Eoseberry Farm," which they 
divided into lots, and sold them upon such liberal terms as enabled 
many persons to provide themselves with a home, who could not 
otherwise have done so. 

Upon the completion of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, 
in 1854, from Trenton to Phillipsburg, the demand for these lots 
became so great, as to induce the Company to purchase another 
farm ; and after the completion of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, in 
1855, they purchased another, amounting, in all, to about three 
hundred acres, for which they paid the sum of $55,000. There 
were about 1058 regular building lots cut out of these farms, 
besides 72 one acre out lots. These lots varied in price from $50 
to $250 each. Up to October 1, 1858, the Company had sold 
about $52,000 worth of lots, and have still in their possession and 
for sale, about 500, besides some twenty acres reserved for manu- 
facturing purposes. Among the sales effected by this Company, 
was one of twenty acres to the "National Paint Company," for 
$8000, and one of ten acres to the " Warren Foundry Company," 
for $4000 ; thus showing an increase in value, in one year, of over 
one hundred per cent, for land sold by the acre. 

Phillipsburg possesses many advantages for manufacturing pur- 
poses, surrounded as it is by a rich and fertile country ; bounded on 
one side by the Morris Canal and the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, 
and with the New Jersey Central Railroad running directly 
through it, it offers to manufacturers every facility for transport- 
ing their manufactures to either of the great cities, and who by 
means of the Lehigh Canal and Lehigh Valley Railroad, can have 
the raw material brought direct from the mines, and unloaded at 
their doors, without any transshipment. 

The first church, in this section of country, was located at Phil- 
lipsburg, and was built of logs; a part of the burial-ground 
attached to that church is inclosed in the garden of John S. Bach, 
Esq., and the rude gravestones still mark the resting-place of the 
lathers of Phillipsburg. Mrs. Elizabeth Stryker, whose grand- 



6 PHILLIPSBURG. 

father worshipped in this old church, has in her possession the 
sacramental cup used by the congregation, and a large Irish linen 
cloth which covered the sacramental emblems. The cup is made 
of material similar to bell metal, and on it is rudely engraved the 
following: — 



1 . 


7 . 


61 


c 


, A , 


. M 


I . 


P 


. B 



The meaning of which no person has yet been able to explain. 

After this church was torn down, which was previous to the 
Eevolutionary war, the village was without a building devoted to 
public worship until the year 1854. During that year there was 
a magnificent church erected by the Presbyterian congregation, at 
a cost of $15,000. It is built of brick, in the Elizabethan style of 
architecture, is finished so as to represent granite, and is large and 
commodious. 

A Methodist church was erected in 1855, at a cost of $8000; the 
church is built of brick, in a neat and substantial manner, and will 
accommodate about six hundred people. It will thus be seen there 
is ample accommodation for all who wish to attend Divine service. 

The cause of education has also kept pace with the rapid 
increase of population. In 1851, all the children were taught in 
a little school-house about 18 by 24 feet, one story high. At the 
present time there is a large academy, divided into four depart- 
ments, in which about four hundred children are taught at an 
annual expense of about fifteen hundred dollars, derived from three 
sources ; the State fund, interest on surplus revenue, and a public 
school tax. Great credit is due to the able superintendent of 
public schools, J. R. Lovell, Esq., for the systematic manner in 
which the schools are conducted. 

In addition to the public schools, there has been established 
within the last year the " Lenni-Lenape Institute," a boarding and 
day school for both sexes; S. Freeman, A. B., Principal. The 
course of study in this institution embraces a thorough knowledge 



MANUFACTURES. 7 

of the English, necessary to fit the student for the counting-room, 
or for any of the practical pursuits of life ; and an accurate know- 
ledge of the classics, so far as may be necessary for entering with 
credit, any college in the United States. The gradation of the 
school is divided into an elementary, an intermediate, and academic 
department. Each department is conducted by competent teach- 
ers, who have constant supervision of the studies, health, and 
morals of the pupils. This institution, from its central location, 
convenience of access by the various lines of railways, the large 
and well-ventilated building, and the systematic course of instruc- 
tion which distinguishes it, has induced many of the leading 
families of the neighborhood, and many from a distance, to place 
their children under the care of the principal. 



MANUFACTURES. 

The first regularly established manufactory was an iron and 
brass foundry and finishing shop, erected in 1848 by J. E. Temp- 
lin & Co., in which an extensive and remunerating business was 
carried on until July 4th, 1855, when it was destroyed by fire. 
Among the large contracts filled by this establishment, in con- 
nection with the Eagle Foundry at Easton, was that of casting the 
large iron pillars for the Crystal Palace of New York. 

In 1849, the Cooper Furnace was erected by the Trenton Iron 
Company, about one mile below Phillipsburg, but which at the 
present time may be considered in the town. The ore used bv 
this furnace is chiefly derived from the Andover Mines, situated 
in Sussex County, New Jersey. These mines were originally 
worked by an English company, prior to the ^Revolutionary war, 
from which period up to the year 1847 they remained unworked; 
they were then purchased by Peter Cooper, Esq., for the Trenton 
Iron Company, who have since continued mining them, and have 
taken from them up to the present time about 200,000 tons of ore. 



S PHILLIPSBURG. 

The ores are principally the peroxide of iron, and the chief 
varieties are the " blue" and " red." These ores, though not unu- 
sually rich, are remarkable for the facility of their reduction. 
The large quantity of fluxing materials, such as manganese and 
carbonate of lime, contained in the ores themselves, renders the 
small addition of but ten per cent, fluxing matter necessary in 
working the ores. In one of the furnaces (forty-two feet high, and 
eighteen across the boshes) there was made two hundred and 
thirty tons of pig iron per week for six weeks in succession, with 
but one and a half tons of coal for each ton of iron produced, and 
the yield in one week, for a single furnace with a blast of three and 
a half pounds of pressure to the square inch, was three hundred and 
eleven tons, an amount unprecedented in the annals of European 
furnaces. 

A considerable amount of the iron produced is of the kind 
termed " lamellated ;" this iron is a type of the perfect combination 
of carbon and iron, with the carbon in larger proportion than in 
any other kind of iron. This species presents in its fracture a 
silvery brightness, and is beautifully crystallized, some of the 
crystals having brilliant faces measuring two inches across. An- 
other variety is the " radiated," which presents a fibrous fraction, 
the fibres radiating from the centre to the outside of the pig. 

The pig iron made at these furnaces is puddled at the rolling 
mills of the company, and the anthracite blooms thus made are 
converted into the various kinds of bar iron, rails, &c. At the 
wire mills the blooms are worked and drawn down to the finest 
wire, unsurpassed in quality. Steel of the best description is also 
produced from this iron ; and whenever wrought iron of great 
strength and toughness is required (as in the shafts of our largest 
class steamers) this iron, having been thoroughly tested, is highly 
esteemed. This company have at present three furnaces in opera- 
tion at Phillipsburg, requiring to supply them, when in full blast, 
60,000 tons of ore, and about the same quantity of coal, per 
annum, yielding about 25,000 tons of pig iron in the same time. 
When in full operation, the company employ about three hundred 



MANUFACTURES. 9 

men in and around the furnaces, who with those employed at the 
mines and the rolling mill number about one thousand; while, if 
we add those engaged in boating, mining coal, &c, the number 
would be about fifteen hundred; which, could it be possible for 
them to be located at one place with their families, would make 
no inconsiderable town. 

The works under the management of the Superintendent and 
Chemist, J. C. Kent, Esq., have been remarkably successful, having 
been in operation with but little intermission since their erection, 
and have produced in that time about 125,000 tons of pig iron. 

In the same year, A. R. Eeese & Co., seeing the necessity for a 
manufactory of agricultural implements in the great grain growing 
district of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, started one as a mere 
experiment, upon a capital of $500, and sent to market the first year 
eleven mowers and reapers. The name of the firm was afterwards 
changed to Eeese, Thomas & Gould, who, with an increased capital, 
greatly extended their business, and, in 1852, sent to market five 
hundred " power corn shellers," two hundred and fifty grain drills, 
and a large number of mowers and reapers. During the last year 
the firm was again changed to that of Eeese, Gould & Lake, who 
sent to market in that year two hundred and fifty mowers and 
reapers, two hundred grain drills, and one hundred power corn 
shellers, besides a large number of horse powers, threshing ma- 
chines, cutting boxes, clover hullers, corn planters, &c. &c. 

This firm has, in connection with their manufactory, a large iron 
and brass foundry. Much of the success of these gentlemen may 
be attributed to the excellent manner in which their work is gotten 
up, using nothing but the best material in their construction. 
From close attention to business, and good workmanship, this firm 
has risen from a small business of $500 capital to a large and ex- 
tensive one, requiring a capital of $60,000, and being one of the 
largest establishments of the kind in the State. 

In 1850, the extensive distillery of Messrs. John Tindall & Co. 
was erected. This establishment is one of the largest in this sec- 



10 PHILLIPSBURG. 

tion of country, consuming on an average about sixty thousand 
bushels of grain, and manufacturing and sending to market about 
240,000 gallons of whiskey yearly. These works contain all the 
recent improvements in distilling, and are propelled by a forty- 
horse power engine, requiring a capital of between thirty and forty 
thousand dollars. 

The Warren Foundry and Machine Company was incorporated 
in 1856, with a capital of $200,000, one-half of which was taken 
and is employed in carrying on the works. The buildings are 
very large, and were completed during the summer of 1856. They 
are all of stone, and of the following dimensions: Foundry 112 by 
130 feet ; engine house 30 by 50 feet ; blacksmith shop 70 by 70 
feet ; machine shop 70 by 400 feet, with a railroad running through 
the centre, connecting with the New Jersey Central and Lehigh 
Valley Eailroads. 

This company has finished heavy contracts for the Brooklyn 
water works ; columns for Chicago building fronts, &c. &c, and are 
now engaged on a large contract for government thirty-inch water 
pipes for Washington City. Their facilities for manufacturing are 
equal if not superior to any establishment in the country, having 
all the essentials at their very doors. 

Phillipsburg Bank was chartered March 19, 1856, and com- 
menced its operations on the 2d of September of the same year, 
with an authorized capital of $200,000, of which amount $146,470 
was paid in ; there are 4000 shares of stock, which is held by 192 
persons. The institution has been well conducted, under the 
management of its able officers, Chas. Sitgreaves, Esq., President, 
Lewis C. Eeese, Cashier. 

Phillipsburg at present contains about 1500 inhabitants, two 
churches, two schools, four hotels, one bank, three furnaces, one 
distillery, one agricultural implement manufactory, one foundry 
and machine shop, a post-office, and twenty stores — among which 



LOCATION AND APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN. 11 

are included those for the sale of dry-goods, groceries, hardware, 
stoves, boots and shoes, wines and liquors, drugs, provisions, &c. i&c. 

The following letter, which we copy from a city paper, will give 
the reader a general description of the location and appearance of 
the town : — 

" Phillipsburg may in fact be considered a part of Easton, or at 
least bearing the same relation to it that Camden does to Philadel- 
phia. Many of the citizens of Easton are extensively engaged in 
business here, while others who are engaged in business in Easton, 
reside here ; consequently the interests of both places are consi- 
dered almost as one. 

" The many beautiful cottages and villas which are sprinkled in 
great profusion over the lofty hills of Phillipsburg, present from 
the opposite side of the river a very beautiful and charming ap- 
pearance. 

" There are two bridges over the Delaware Eiver, which connect 
the town with Easton : the one a wagon-bridge, erected in 1806, 
and the other the celebrated double bridge of the Lehigh Yalley 
Eailroad. The old Delaware Bridge, which we crossed to reach 
this place, is a miracle of cleanliness, and from either side of 
which, through the open windows, can be obtained a charming 
and romantic view. As we emerged from the bridge on the Phil- 
lipsburg side, we found ourselves within a fine large open square, 
which is named "Union Square," and is surrounded on all sides 
by fine large buildings ; in this square is transacted the principal 
mercantile business of the place. Some of the stores I noticed with 
the patent iron fronts, and in appearance compare very favorably 
with the handsomest stores in Easton. Within this square are 
located the Post-office, Bank, Lenni-Lenape, and Union Square 
Hotels, and the depot of the Belvidere Delaware Eailroad. The 
buildings of this depot are some of the finest and most complete 
in the State. The passenger building, which is about sixty feet 
square, is built of brick, four stories high, and was erected at a 
cost of about $14,000; the interior arrangement is unsurpassed for 
convenience. Some idea of the amount of goods received and 



12 PHILLIPSBURQ. 

shipped at this depot may be formed, from the size of the freight 
house, which is 200 feet long by 80 feet wide, and lighted through- 
out with gas. 

"The gas used in the public and private buildings is manufactured 
by the Easton Gas Co., and is conveyed from that place through a 
large iron pipe, which is laid over the Delaware Bridge. 

" The town, from the fact of its not being incorporated, lacks 
many improvements which would greatly add to the convenience 
of its residents. The only accommodations for foot passengers, 
with but few exceptions, is a narrow plank walk, which at present 
is in a rather dilapidated condition. There are, however, fair 
prospects of the town not only becoming incorporated, but of its 
being made the seat of justice of a new county, which the citizens 
of the place and surrounding country are endeavoring to form 
from parts of the counties of "Warren, Morris, and Hunterdon. 

" In our walk through the principal avenue, we passed the hand- 
some residence of Hon. Chas. Sitgreaves, President of the Belvidere 
Delaware Eailroad, and one of the leading men in Western New 
Jersey. Immediately behind this residence is Mount Lebanon, 
upon which a number of the wealthier citizens have built their 
cottages. The view from this mountain is very fine ; as it is situ- 
ated directly opposite where the Lehigh empties into the Delaware, 
it affords a fine view up that river for the distance of about two 
miles, the beauty of which is greatly augmented by the smoke and 
flames of the furnaces and manufactories which line its banks and 
rise high above the lofty trees. 

" From this mountain we wended our way to that of Parnassus ; 
the view from this mountain is not so extensive as that from 
Lebanon, but it gives the tourist a better opportunity of seeing the 
many improvements in the neighborhood, of which there is proba- 
bly a greater number within the circle of a thousand feet than can 
be found anywhere else in the Middle States. 

"This beautiful mountain was named after one of the noted 
mountains in Greece, which it is supposed somewhat resembled 
this — it having two summits — one of which was consecrated to 



A GHOST. 13 

Apollo and the Muse, and the other to Bacchus. On it was the 
celebrated Castalian fountain, the waters of which were fabled to 
inspire those who drank there with the true spirit of poetry. 

" Whether this mountain has ever had this honor, or is possessed 
of these peculiarities, I am unable to say — but tradition says that 
many years ago, it was the resort of the witches which were the 
source of so much trouble to the early settlers of this region. 

"In connection, and by way of closing this already too long and 
tedious letter, I will relate an amusing circumstance which occurred 
on this mountain a few years ago. 

"An old man, who resided in Easton, and was a firm believer in 
Mesmerism, received from his daughter while in the mesmeric state 
the gratifying intelligence that a large sum of money had been 
buried in this mountain. In accordance with the directions re- 
ceived from her, he repaired to the mountain at the 'witching 
time of night, when churchyards yawn,' &c, and commenced 
searching for the treasure ; night after night he worked faithfully, 
and the required depth had almost been obtained, when he was 
abruptly startled in the midst of his labor by a sepulchral voice, 
which seemed to proceed from the bowels of the earth. With 
trembling knees he turned around, and beheld a huge figure 
dressed in white. 'Dig dare — dig dare,' said the ghost; but the 
old man was too much frightened to reply. Mustering up all his 
strength, with a single bound he cleared the mountain, and with 
the speed of a locomotive, and shrieks equally as frightful, fled 
towards his home. The circumstance was the theme of conversa- 
tion for many a day by the inhabitants of the neighborhood. It 
may, perhaps, not be out of place to mention, for the benefit of 
those who are believers in apparitions, that the one in this case 
was a colored ostler of a neighboring tavern, who had been dressed 
for the occasion by some of the wags of the town, who had watched 
the secret movements of the gold-digger." 



OUTLINE HISTORY. 



Sir William Penn, the father of the founder of Pennsylvania, 
who had been a distinguished admiral under Charles II., left at his 
death claims of considerable amount (£16,000) against the crown 
for his services. His son William,* in consideration of this claim, 
and with the still nobler motive of securing an asylum where his 
Quaker brethren might enjoy, in unmolested security and freedom, 
their peculiar religious tenets, sought to acquire from King Charles 
II. the grant of a tract of land in the New World. This request 
was granted, and by the king's order (much against Penn's inclina- 
tion) the new province was to be called Pennsylvania, in honor of 
the services of his illustrious father. The charter was dated 4th 
March, 1681, and confirmed in April, by royal proclamation. 

The extent of the province was three degrees of latitude in 
breadth, by five degrees of longitude in length ; the eastern bound- 
ary being the Delaware Kiver,f and the northern " the beginning 
of the three-and-fortieth degree of northern latitude." 

William Penn left England in the ship " Welcome," on the 30th 
of August, 1682, accompanied by about one hundred colonists, 
and after a long voyage, arrived in December, at Newcastle (now 
in the State of Delaware). Soon after his arrival, he divided his 
province into three counties, viz., Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks. 

* The Indians called William Penn " Miquon," which, means a quill, or pen. 

f The name of this river was given in honor of Lord Delaware, who was gover- 
nor of the Virginia colony, and in 1610 discovered the bay and river. The Dutch 
knew it only as " Sud Revier," or South River, in contradistinction to the North 
River of New York. 



THE WALKING PURCHASE. 15 

Before the arrival of Penn, his deputy governor, Markham, had 
purchased from the Indians a considerable tract of country, and in 
1683 and 1684 he himself purchased other tracts. In 1686, the 
Indians granted to him an extent of country, commencing in a 
line of the former purchases, and from thence northwestwardly, as 
far as a man could ride on horseback in two days ; this contract, 
however, was not consummated during the lifetime of Penn, so 
that the extent of this purchase remained undetermined until 1737. 

On the 25th of August, 1737, a treaty was held with the Indians 
at Durham, below Easton, on the Delaware, when it was stipulated 
that the purchase of 1686 be consummated by commencing near 
where Wrightstown, in Bucks County, now stands, and terminating 
at the spot which a person could reach in one and a half day's 
walk. 

The Proprietaries, Thomas and John Penn, immediately after 
the treaty, advertised for the most expert walkers, and from those 
who were presented, selected three men, viz., Edward Marshall, 
Solomon Jennings, and James Yeates. 

The walk took place on the 19th and 20th of September, 1737. 
They started from a marked spruce-tree at sunrise, and at sunset 
Edward Marshall arrived at a creek near the northern base of the 
Blue Mountain.* About one mile from the resting-place of Mar- 
shall, there was an Indian village, called Meniolagemika, at which 
a large number of Indians collected, in the expectation that he 
would go no further. But when they found that he intended to 
proceed in the morning, they were very angry, saying that they 
were cheated, that the Penns had got all their good land, but added 
that in the spring every Indian was to bring him a buckskin, and 
they would have their good land again, and Penn might go to 
the devil with his poor land; one old Indian, with indignation, 

* Kitochtanemin was the original name of this mountain, and is so called in 
the deeds to Penn. Kit signifying " very large" or " highest ;" Wachtu or Wasch- 
tshu, " a mountain." Guneu, "long," therefore, the usual translation given to the 
word, is " endless mountain." The mountain at present is generally called " Kit- 
tanny Mountain." 



16 THE WALKING PURCHASE. 

thus exclaimed — " No sit down to smoke, no shoot squirrel, but 
lun, lun, lun all day long." Next morning, at sunrise, Marshall* 
started again, and at noon arrived at the Tobihanna Creek, near the 
banks of which he struck his hatchet into a tree. 

Solomon Jennings had given out the first day, arriving at the 
Lehigh Kiver, and Yeates could proceed no further than the foot 
of the Blue Mountain, on the south side. The whole distance 
walked by Marshall was about seventy-four miles, or about fifty 
miles the first day, which cannot be considered an extraordinary 
performance, inasmuch as many persons at the present time can, 
upon an emergency, exceed it. It is also said that the obstructions 
that previously may have existed had been removed; that the 
Indian path upon which they walked was well trodden, and had 
been used probably for many years, as it was one of the principal 
thoroughfares from the Delaware Eiver near Burlington, to the 
great hunting-grounds at the Susquehanna, near Wyoming 

The Indians did not value the lands south of the Blue Mountains 
very highly; their favorite hunting-grounds at that time were 
in the Minisink country, or the valley north of that mountain, 
extending from the Wind Gap, into the State of New York, near 
to the Hudson Eiver ; and as a rectangular line was drawn from 
the terminating point of the walk to the Delaware Eiver, many 
miles northward of the Minisinks were included in the purchase, 
as well as all their favorite hunting-grounds along that river, a 
result which was contrary to their expectations, and which caused 
them to be much dissatisfied, and eventually, through the agency 
of some of the enemies of the proprietors, became exasperated; 
the consequence of which was, that they committed many murders, 
and finally became involved in a war with the whites from 1755 to 
1758. 

* Marshall's Creek was named in honor of Edward Marshall ; at the commence- 
ment of the Indian wars, his family were all killed by the Indians ; he lived at 
that time near where the present town of Stroudsburg stands. There are nume- 
rous entries in the records of the county in 1752 — 1755, of his being paid for wolf 
scalps, &c. 



FIRST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 17 

"William Perm was a Quaker, and although the proprietaryship 
of the province, after his decease, came into the hands of his sons 
John and Thomas Penn, who belonged to the Established or Epis- 
copalian Church, the Quakers for many years retained the ascend- 
ency in the Assembly. The governors differed in many points 
from the views of the Quakers, thereby engendering a feud between 
these parties. 

The Quakers, considering the walking purchase a great fraud, 
naturally induced the Indians to regard them as their true friends, 
and all those who were not Quakers, as adverse to their interests. 

Many discussions took place in the Assembly, and pamphlets 
were published by both parties, criminating and recriminating each 
other in regard to this walk. Charles Thompson, of Bucks County, 
the first Secretary of Congress, published, in 1758, a pamphlet en- 
titled " The Causes of the Alienation of the Indians," in which he 
asserts that the walk was a fraud. This charge was refuted by a 
publication in London, in 1759, entitled "An Answer to the Causes 
of the Alienation of the Indians." 

The Indian path upon which the walk was performed, passed 
the Lehigh Eiver about one mile below Bethlehem, over an island 
(now called Jones's Island), from thence in a nearly northwesterly 
course to the Blue Mountain, at Smith's Gap, in Moore Township.* 

The first European settlements in the vast territory which 
formed the county of Northampton at the time of its erection, 
were made about the year 1710, in the township of Smithfield, 
now in Monroe County, northeast of the Blue Mountains, along 
the Delaware Eiver (by the Indians called the " Minisinks"). 
Samuel Preston, in an article published in Hazzard's Register, 
dates this settlement about the year 1660, which, from a careful 
examination of the subject, we consider too early, yet it is known 

* Moore Township was named in honor of John Moore, the representative of 
Northampton to the Assembly in 1761. The records of the county show that the 
original eastern line of the township was laid along this Indian path. The com- 
piler has a distinct recollection of this path, his youthful feet having trodden it 
frequently, below, as well as on the mountain side. 

2 



18 



FIEST EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS. 



that settlements were made at an early day on the Jersey side of 
the river, for we find it stated in the Documentary History of New 
York, that Claus de Euyter produced at Amsterdam several sam- 
ples of copper ore dug there in 1659, and as these excavations are 
still to be seen, it is evident that the Dutch who were settled near 
the North Eiver, had formed settlements along the Delaware in 
New Jersey previous to the settlements in Pennsylvania. 

In a report made to the Assembly " on paper currency," dated 
August 20, 1752, the committee expressed an opinion that there 
were but few if any settlements above Durham in 1723. This may 
have been the case in the eastern part of the county, but it is very 
probable that the Mennonists, Dunkers, Amishes, and other reli- 
gious persons who settled at and near the Falkner Swamp, in the 
present county of Montgomery, had, in 1708 — 1715, crossed over 
upon the lands now in Upper Milford Township, in Lehigh County. 
A considerable accession was had from 1720 to 1730, and a great 
number arrived from 1730 to 1740, and thence to 1752. 

In 1752, when the county of Northampton was formed, it con- 
tained within its borders between 5,000 and 6,000 inhabitants, 
(exclusive of Indians), who were distributed over the townships 
then organized in the following proportions, viz : — 



Smithfield, formed in 1742 



Milford, 


u 


1742 


Upper Saucon, 


(I 


1743 


Lower Saucon, 


u 


1743 


Macungie, 


it 


1743 


Bethlehem, 


u 


1746 


Allen, 


a 


1748 


Williams, 


a 


1750 



Inhabitants 
500 

700 
650 
700 
650 
600 
300 
200 



Upper parts of Lehigh County, forming subsequently the 
townships of Lynn, Weisenberg, Heidelberg, Salisberg, 
Lowhill, Whitehall, &c, about .... 

Forks of the Delaware, excepting Allen and Bethlehem 
Townships, about ..... 

Making in all near 6,000. 



800 



800 



Of these, there were about 600 Scotch-Irish in Allen and Mount 



EARLY PIONEERS. 19 

Bethel Townships, and 300 Dutch in Smithfield, the remainder 
were Germans with but very few exceptions. In some of the 
townships there is not one English name to be found in the assess- 
ment lists. 

The county then contained about 6,300 square miles, or near 
4,000,000 of acres. From the beginning of the 42° north latitude 
to the 43° there was no white person living excepting here and 
there an Indian trader. The Moravian missionaries were probably 
the first intelligent persons who traversed those wilds. Amongst 
them Count Zinzendorf, accompanied by Martin Mack and several 
others, were the earliest pioneers. The earliest settlements in this 
remote part of the county by the whites, were made along the 
River Delaware, at Cushietank, about 1754-5, by the New Eng- 
land intruders; these were so insignificant that they were not 
noticed by the County Commissioners in their assessment lists of 
that time. 

All the country north of the Blue Mountains, with the exception 
of Smithfield Township, was called Towamensing (which signifies 
a wilderness, or a country not inhabited), a very proper name by 
the way. In the assessment list of 1762 we find only thirty-six 
taxables in the whole of this wilderness.* Count Zinzendorf 

* Information given by John Williamson, who was employed by John Jennings 
to go to Cusheitank, June 18, 1762, to gain intelligence of the numbers settled 
there, &c. (P. A., vol. iv. page 83.) 

Sixteen families are settled on the river ; their whole settlement extends seven 
miles. Their head man is named Moses Thomas ; he lives in the second settle- 
ment ; his brother lives half a mile from him, and is named Aaron Thomas, in the 
first settlement. 

Third settlement there resides Isaac Tracy (owns a saw-mill), Christopher Tracy, 
brothers ; Jonathan Tracy, Reuben Jones, Moses Kimball, Levi Kimball, James 
Penaire, Daniel Cash. 

Fourth settlement, Nathan Parks, Tyler, Cummins. 

There are in all forty men, who told him they held their land under New England ; 
they had laid out a town four miles to the west of them, on a body of fine land, on 
a branch running into Lackawaxen ; and threatened, if any sheriff came to molest 
them, they would tie a stone about his neck, and send him down to his governor. 
They knew the woods well, and would pop them down three for one. 



20 GEKMAN EMIGRANTS. 

named this country St. Anthony's Wilderness, which name it bears 
on the early maps, particularly Evans' of 1749. How Saint 
Anthony became entitled to this honor is not known — unless he 
was a descendant of Vulcan, who had here his storehouse of an- 
thracite coal. 

The Germans who first emigrated into the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, came chiefly for conscience sake. Those who arrived at a 
later period, came to improve their temporal concerns ; after the 
tide of emigration had fairly commenced, it became a matter of 
speculation to entice the Germans to take up their abode in the 
wilds of America. There were found many persons in various 
portions of Germany who had been in America for a short time, 
and who, giving glowing descriptions of the fruitfulness of the 
country, enticed the poorest Germans to emigrate in great num- 
bers. In 1708, 1709, 1710, to 1720, thousands of them arrived 
who were known as Palatines, because they had come from the 
Palatinate, to which some had been forced to flee from their homes 
in other parts of Europe. Some of these had gone to England, on 
the invitation of Queen Anne, by whose bounty not a few were 
transported to America. James Logan, the Secretary of the Pro- 
vince of Pennsylvania in 1717, remarks: — 

" We have of late a great number of Palatinates poured in upon 
us without any recommendation or notice, which gives the country 
some uneasiness, for foreigners do not so well among us as our 
own English people." In 1719, Jonathan Dickinson remarks : 

Nathan Chapman, who lives on the Jersey side, told him no body of men could 
come up without their having notice half a day before they arrived from the Mini- 
sink people, who had promised to give them notice. The land on which they 
are settled is very good. The land flies are intolerable. At Goshen a man told 
him that one hundred families were coming from Connecticut, in as private a man- 
ner as possible, to settle the lands at Wyoming. 

These adventurous colonists from Connecticut, claimed the land under the 
ancient charter granted in 1620 to the Plymouth Company by King James I. 
This grant comprehended all the territory lying in the same latitude with Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts, aa far west as the Pacific Ocean, not previously set- 
tled by other Christian powers. 



REDEMPTIONERS. 21 

"We are daily expecting ships from London, which bring over 
Palatinates in number six or seven thousand ; some few are coming 
from Ireland lately, and more are expected thence — this is besides 
our common supply from England and Wales." From 1725 to 
17-10, there was another great influx of Germans of various reli- 
gious opinions : German Reformed, Lutherans, Catholics, Mora- 
vians, and Schwenkfelders. Those coming during this period 
settled in great numbers in Northampton County, and we may 
conclude that of the 1000 German families that were residents in 
the county in 1752, the greater part had arrived during that time. 
In 1725, James Logan says, in a letter, that many of these Ger- 
mans were not over scrupulous in their compliance with the regu- 
lations of the land-office. "They come in," says he, "in crowds, 
and as bold, indigent strangers from Germany, where many of 
them have been soldiers; all these go in the best vacant tracts, and 
seize upon them as places of common spoil. He says they rarely 
approach him on their arrival to propose to purchase, and when 
they are sought out and challenged for their right of occupancy, 
they allege it was published in Europe that we wanted and solicited 
for colonists, and had a superabundance of land, and therefore they 
had come without the means to pay." To arrest, in some degree, 
the arrival of the Germans, the Assembly passed a law taxing 
newly-arrived persons twenty shillings a head. Among these 
immigrants were many who bitterly lamented that they had for- 
saken their homes for the Province of Pennsylvania. In many 
instances, persons in easy circumstances at home, with a view of 
improving their condition, came to America, but to their sorrow 
found that their condition was rendered none the better, but in 
many respects much worse. Others, again, who had not the means 
of paying their passage across the Atlantic, were, on their arrival 
at Philadelphia, exposed to sale at auction, and sold to serve until 
their passage money was paid. These were called Redemptioners, 
and were sold for about ten to fifteen pounds for from two to five 
years' servitude, according to age and condition. Many of them, 
after serving out their time faithfully, became, by frugality and 



22 A SOUL-DRIVER TRICKED. 

industry, to be among the most influential citizens in the State. 
The years that were peculiarly remarkable for the importation of 
Palatinate redemptioners, were from 1728 to 1751, yet the practice 
of selling continued for many years, and was not abolished within 
the eighteenth century.* There was a set of men who were called 
soul-drivers, who used to drive redemptioners through the country 
and dispose of them to the farmers. They generally purchased 
them in lots consisting of fifty or more, of captains of ships to 
whom the redemptioners were indebted for their passage. The 
trade was very brisk for many years, but (as the country increased 
in population) broke up about 1785, by the numbers that ran away 
from the drivers. A story is told of one of these soul-drivers 
having been tricked by one of his herd. This fellow, by a little 
management, contrived to be the last of the flock that remained 
unsold, and of course travelled about with his master. One night, 
they lodged at a tavern, and in the morning the young fellow rose 
early, and sold his master to the landlord, pocketed the money, 
and marched off. Before going, he used the precaution to tell the 
purchaser that, though tolerably clever in other respects, he was 
rather saucy, and a little given to lying. That he had even been 
presumptuous enough at times to endeavor to pass for master, and 
that he might possibly represent himself as such to him. 

To show the opinion entertained by the proprietors, in regard 
to these Germans, the following extract of a letter (in possession of 
the Pennsylvania Historical Society) from Thomas Penn to Gov. 
Hamilton, may suffice. The letter is dated July 31, 1749, and 

* The writer well recollects the following purchase. I was residing with 
Samuel Grosh, a storekeeper in Litiz, Lancaster County, in 1805. Mr. Grosh, going 
to Philadelphia to purchase some goods, was requested by a tobacconist of the 
place, named Eichler, to purchase for him one of these redemptioners ; this Mr. 
Grosh promised to do, and upon his return brought with him a young German, of 
very small stature. Mr. Eichler, upon his introduction to the man, asked him, 
"How old are you?" "Twenty-nine years," was the answer. Eichler, who was 
considerable of a joker, remarked, after surveying him from head to foot, "Well, 
well, you have in a long time shot up very short!" The fellow blushed. He 
served out his time, three years, faithfully. 



QUAKER INFLUENCE OVER THE GERMANS. 23 

says : " You should issue a proclamation to deter people from set- 
tling lands "without license, and make an example of a particular 
person or two in terrorum* else as there are great numbers of 
people going over, we shall have the country overrun with people 
who will neither pay us our dues nor submit to the law of the 
land. For my own part, I should be better pleased not to have 
one settler in seven years to come, than have such as throw them- 
selves in the country as now do. I find people here (in England) 
think we go too fast, with regard to these matters, and it gives an 
opportunity to those fools, who are always telling their fears, that 
the colonies will set up for themselves." 

Many of the Germans became men of wealth and influence in 
their day, and their descendants are among the first in society as ^ 
to intelligence, wealth, and respectability. 

About the years 1748 to 1750, the Germans were much noticed 
in the publications of the day. They were at that time in general 
hearty co-operators with the Quakers or Friends, who then had 
considerable influence in the Assembly, and at the elections they 
assisted them in carrying the members whom they proposed. The 
Quakers derived much of their influence over the Germans through 
the aid of C. Sower, who published a German newspaper in Ger- 
mantown in 1739, and which, being generally read, influenced them 
on the side of the Quakers. A MS. pamphlet in the Philadelphia 
Library, supposed to have been written by Samuel Wharton in 
1755, says that the Quakers, by means of Sower, persuaded the 
Germans that there was a design to enslave them, to compel their 
young men, by a contemplated militia law, to become soldiers, and 
to load them down with taxes. For this cause, he adds, they come 
down in shoals to vote (of course, many from Northampton 
County), carrying everything before them. 

* Although the proprietaries threatened settlers who had not taken warrants for 
the lands, yet there is nothing which we have found on record that shows they 
were actually dispossessed. It is altogether probable, however, that they complied 
with the proprietary's demands, for, by a bond found in the land-office, they were 
obliged to satisfy the proprietaries or quit the premises. 



24 IRISH EMIGRANTS. 

Thomas Perm, in a letter from England to Governor Hamilton, 
dated February 25, 1750, says : "lam greatly alarmed to find the 
Germans behave so insolently at the elections ; they must no doubt 
do so from the numbers given them at the back counties. The 
taking of counties from Bucks and Philadelphia (Northampton and 
Berks) will take off their settlements, and leave them only two 
members of eight, and prevent them for many years from having 
a majority."* 

Wharton imputes their wrong bias to their "stubborn genius 
and ignorance," which he proposes to soften by education — a 
scheme, still suggested, as necessary to give the general mass of 
the country Germans right views of public individual interests. 
To this end he proposes that faithful Protestant ministers and 
schoolmasters should be supported among them ; that their chil- 
dren should be taught the English tongue, that government in the 
meantime should suspend their right of voting for members of the 
Assembly, and to incline them sooner to become English in edu- 
cation and feeling, should compel them to make all bonds and 
other legal writings in English, and that no newspaper or almanac 
should be circulated among them unless also accompanied by the 
English thereof. "Finally (the writer concludes), without some 
suck measure, I see nothing to prevent this province from falling 
into the hands of the French." 

The Irish arrived in the county about 1729 or '30. These 
earliest Irish emigrated from the North of Ireland, and all of them 
of the Presbyterian (Scotch) Church. 

In 1729, James Logan, Secretary to the Proprietaries, remarks : 
" It looks as if Ireland is to send all her inhabitants hither, for last 
week, not less than six ships arrived, and every day two or three 
arrive also. The common fear is, that if they continue to come, 
they will make themselves proprietors of the province. It is 

* It would appear from the above letter, that the taking of Northampton County 
from Bucks was for political purposes, because from the fact of the alliance of the 
Germans with the Quakers (who were generally opposed to the proprietary influ- 
ence) they could carry the old counties. 



HOSTILITY OF THE INDIANS. 25 

strange," says he, "that they thus crowd where they are not 
wanted. The Indians themselves are alarmed at the swarms of 
strangers, and we are afraid of a breach between them — for the 
Irish are very rough to them." 

At the time of the erection of Northampton County, an alarming 
crisis was at hand; the French, who were hovering around the 
great lakes, had sedulously applied themselves to seduce the In- 
dians from their allegiance to the English. The Shawanees* had 
already joined them, and of the Sis Nations (or Iroquois), the 
Onondagas, Cayugas, or Senecas, were wavering, and the Delawares 
waited only for an opportunity to revenge their supposed wrongs. 
The French were fortifying the strong points on the Ohio. To 
reduce Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg), an expedition was projected 
and sent forward, under the command of General Braddock, in the 
summer of 1753 ; when this army had just crossed the Mononga- 
hela Eiver, within ten miles of Fort Duquesne, they were sur- 
prised by a party of French and Indians in ambush, and completely 
routed. This defeat spread consternation throughout the province, 
the citizens of Northampton County being on the frontier, were 
the most exposed, and the defenceless citizens could only seek 
safety by flight. 

The whole frontier, from the Delaware to the Potomac, was now 
lighted with the blaze of burning cottages. The Indians, joined 
by the Delawares, roamed unmolested among the passes of the 
mountains, laying waste all the settlements beyond the Blue 
Mountains, making inroads upon those below, and butchering the 
settlers.f Treaties were held with them in 1756, 1757, and 1758, 
and a peace concluded in the last mentioned year. 

* Shawanno translated means South, implying that these Indians came from 
the south. In the commencement of the 18th century they were driven out of 
Florida, and found no resting-place until they arrived in Pennsylvania, where the 
Delaware Indians assigned to them several places for residences. 

f The building of forts, the treaties with the Indians, as well as the murders 
committed, will be noticed in the history of the section of country where they 
occurred. 



26 BOUNTIES OFFERED FOR THE CAPTURE OF INDIANS. 

The short calm was succeeded by a terrific storm in 1763. The 
great Indian chief Pontiac conceived the gigantic plan of uniting 
all the northwestern tribes in a simultaneous and vigorous attack 
upon the whole frontier, and in utter extermination of all the 
whites, the destruction of their forts, crops, cattle, and cabins, upon 
the same day. It is painful to record the details of savage barba- 
rity ; but it is more painful to confess that the atrocities of the 
Indians in this war were fully equalled, if not exceeded, by those 
committed by some of the whites. The Indians had good cause 
for this war, the white people having built forts on lands which 
they had never purchased, several of them one hundred miles from 
the lines of the purchased lands. These forts were held in defiance 
of former treaties, as outposts, from which, further encroachments 
were apprehended might be made towards the west. It creates a 
feeling of sadness to know that the grandson of William Penn, 
John Penn, who became Governor of Pennsylvania in 1763, in the 
city of brotherly love itself, in July, 1764, offered, by proclama- 
tion ; the following bounties : — 

For the Capture, or Scalps, and Death of Indians. 

For every male above the age of ten years, captured . . . $150 
For every male above the age of ten years, scalped (being killed) 130 
For every Indian female, and every male, under the age of ten 

years, captured . . . . . . . . .130 

For every female above the age of ten, scalped, being killed . 50 

" ! quam mutatus ab illo .'" 

Bouquet's expedition to the Muskingum in the autumn of 1761, 
overawed the Indians, who sued for peace. 

The Delawares, Shawanees, and Senecas, agreed to cease hostili- 
ties, and surrendered a great number of prisoners, taken during 
the late wars. The return of these prisoners, many of whom were 
children, carried joy to many an anxious heart in Pennsylvania. 

During the Eevolutionary war, several tribes of Indians became 
auxiliaries to the English, and made some inroads into the county, 
particularly at Wilkesbarre, in 1778 ; they took prisoners the Gil- 
bert family, on the Mahony, and committed some murders in Upper 



CAUSES OF THE INDIAN WAR. 27 

and Lower Smithfield Townships, now in Monroe County; and some 
few made incursions in those townships until 1782, or to the end 
of the Eevolutionary war. The following history of the causes of 
the Indian war, taken clown by Conrad Weiser (the Indian agent), 
and sent to Governor Denny on 10th February, 1757, gives the 
most correct information. The attention of the reader is particu- 
larly desired to a careful perusal of it. 

Memorandum taken at Fort Allen, November 26, 1756. 

"As I came along this morning from Nicholas Upplinger's," 
Joseph Tatamyf kept me company for the most part, and some- 
times John Pumpshire4 We began to discourse about this pre- 
sent Indian war. I asked them several questions, and so did they 
me. Among other things, I told them that, for my part, I did not 
understand Teedyuscong§ clearly, in his speech about the cause of 
the war; now and then he blamed the English in general, the Proprie- 
taries of Pennsylvania, and then the Indians for being too credulous 
and foolish to believe the French ; sometimes said the Frenchmen's 
success, wealth, and power, prevailed upon you all, and so on. 

"Joseph Tatamy told me that everything had been agreed upon 
in the Indian council ; that their king Teedyuscong had everything 
in his heart, and knew what to say before he came to Easton, and 
that there his memory was refreshed, but being too often overcome 
with strong liquorj he spoke confusedly, though nothing that was 
wrong or false in itself, only not in such order as he ought to have 
done, and one passage he never mentioned at all, which had drawn 
the Delaware Indian's heart from the English, and their Indian 
allies. 

* Upplinger kept a tavern at the north side of the Blue Mountain, beyond the 
Lehigh Water Gap ; of late years, Thomas Craig's tavern. 

f Son of the celebrated William Tatamy, a Delaware Indian chief, living near 
the present Stockertown, in Forks Township, Northampton County. 

% John Pumpshire, likewise a noted Indian ; also interpreter at the various 
treaties held at Easton, in 1756, &c. 

§ This was the principal Delaware Indian chief. 

|| Parsons says he would drink a gallon of- rum a day, and do business. 



28 CAUSES OF THE INDIAN WAR. 

" That Teedyuscong should have given an account of the differ- 
ences that had arisen some time ago between the Delaware Menis- 
sing Indians and the Mingos (the Six Nations, or Iroquois), and 
should have told the Governor of Pennsylvania how the latter have 
cheated the former out of a great deal of land on the river Dela- 
ware, and sold it to the proprietaries of Pennsylvania ; that the 
Mingos had abused the Delawares some years before, in Philadel- 
phia (1742), as if the Delaware and Minisink Indians were their 
dogs, and that Cannasataego, then speaker among the Mingos, drove 
them away from their own land, and said he would give them 
lands on Susquehanna Eiver, and ordered them instantly to settle 
there, which the Delaware and some of the Minisink Indians did, 
in order to prevent mischief. That then Cannasataego sold that land 
to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania; but the Delawares and Mini- 
sink Indians made no reply against it, thinking themselves safe 
enough on Susquehanna ; but about three years ago, a company of 
New England men had come down Susquehanna, and taken 
draughts of all the good spots of land, and perhaps of all ; that 
when the Indians asked why they did so, they boldly answered 
that so many hundred families from New England would come and 
settle there. ' This is our land,' said the Indians, who were settled 
there. 'No!' was the reply; 'it belongs to the Mingos; you are 
only their tenants, slaves, dogs.' That thereupon, the Delawares 
sent a large body of their people, as their deputation to the Mo- 
hawk country, to protest against the New England people, or any 
other whites settling there, and to complain of the Mohawks' pro- 
ceeding, and to tell them plainly that if they, the Mohawks, would 
not prevent the New England people from settling on the Susque- 
hanna, they, the Delawares, would go over to Ohio, to the French, 
in hopes of receiving better usage from them. That the Mo- 
hawks then denied everything, and said the New England people 
had no leave of them for any lands on the Susquehanna, and that 
they never would sell them any, and that neither the New England 
people nor any other white should settle there. That the deputa- 
tion then went home again, the Delaware and Minisink Indians 



CAUSES OF THE INDIAN WAR. 29 

being thus satisfied, but that they were soon informed by some of 
the Mingos themselves, that that land had actually been sold to the 
New England people, and that the Mohawks had received large 
considerations for them, and that the Mohawks had deceived the 
Deputies of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, who were about 
buying it, and having promised the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
that they should have the preference, if ever the land was sold. 
At this they became enraged, and fearing that they would be cut 
off, they gathered at Tioga, to see what would be the consequence, 
and whether they would join the French, or hold on to their lands; 
a great many did so, others went over to the French from time to 
time, and came back with messages from them. The war broke 
out. 

"I said I wished that this story had been told at the treaty. 
Teedyuscong said he was afraid of the Mingo Indians, that were 
there, lest they might misrepresent the story when they came 
home. ' The Mingo Indians' (continued Tatamy), ' have from the 
beginning cheated our nation, and got our forefathers to call them 
uncles by deceit and art, and at last said they had conquered our 
forefathers; whereas, the Mingos stood in need of our forefathers' 
assistance, and got some of their cunning men to come down to 
our forefathers, with the news that a certain nation from the west 
was preparing to come and cut them off, and so our forefathers 
entered into a league with them, and rather fought their battles, 
when the Mohawks should have fought ours.' 

"Both these Indians were desirous, and insisted that I should 
use my endeavors with the governor and people of Pennsylvania, 
to lay out a large tract of land on Susquehanna, and secure it to 
their posterity, so that none of the whites could sell it, or any- 
body buy it. That if this was done, the Delawares would, for the 
most part, come and live on it, and be reconciled to the people and 
the government of Pennsylvania forever. Teedyuscong told me 
much the same story, as before-mentioned, before we parted, with 
very little difference, and desired the same of me. 

"CONRAD WEISER." 



SO CAUSES OF THE INDIAN WAR. 

The case of the Delaware Indians was certainly a deplorable one. 
From being the occupiers and actual owners of such a vast terri- 
tory, to be, in the course of seventy-five years (from 1681 to 1756), 
deprived of it, not retaining one spot of their own, wherein to lay 
their weary bodies ! 



OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 



This county, at the time of its division from Bucks, embraced 
all the land now contained in the counties of Northampton, Lehigh, 
Carbon, Monroe, Pike, Wayne, and Susquehanna, and parts of 
Wyoming, Luzerne, Schuylkill, Bradford, and Columbia. 

The erection of the county was a question of considerable poli- 
tical importance, as we have previously shown. The Quakers un- 
willingly gave their consent to it, as they thereby gave considerable 
strength to the proprietary party, j^et the inhabitants, notwithstand- 
ing this, could not overlook their own interests, as they labored 
under great inconveniences on account of the great distance from 
the seat of justice, at Newton. The Quakers, therefore, were 
eventually constrained to pass the act for a separation. 

The first petition, which was signed by a great number of the 
inhabitants of the upper part of the county of Bucks, was pre- 
sented to the House of Assembly by William Craig, on the 11th 
of May, 1751, and read. 

"Setting forth that by the number of inhabitants, and the re- 
mote extent of settlements of said county, from the present seat 
of judicature, they are extremely harassed and aggrieved when- 
ever they have occasion to make application for obtaining justice, 
and often choose to lose their right, rather than sue for it under 
such circumstances; that many knowing this, are guilty of fraudu- 
lent and deceitful practices, as well as other licentious behavior, 
which they durst not attempt were the petitioners erected into a 
county by themselves, and the seat of justice more easily to be 
come at; that they are encouraged to hope that the same justice, 
equity, and regard for the good of the public, which induced the 



32 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

late assemblies to erect new counties for the relief of the inhabit- 
ants, will (as their case is the same) be extended to them ; that they 
apprehend a division line run to the southward, from Tohiccon 
creek, to the line of Philadelphia County, and from thence to the 
northward, by the common line that divides Philadelphia County 
from Bucks, would be the most convenient separation from the old 
county of Bucks ; that it is with concern for the public, as well as 
with great detriment to themselves, that they daily see the produce 
of that part of the province carried over at the point of the forks of 
Delaware, into the Jerseys, and from thence by land to Brunswick, 
which is a private loss, by the heavy charges for carriage, and a pro- 
vincial loss, by so great a share of the produce going to a foreign 
market; but all this they conceive might be thoroughly remedied, 
if there was a new county erected, and a proper situation pitched 
upon for the seat of commerce and justice ; they, therefore, being 
conscious that what is here offered is essentially connected with the 
good of the public in general, as well as of the inhabitants in par- 
ticular, do pray this house to grant them a speedy and effectual 
relief in all the premises." 

On the 16th of June, it was read the second time; on the 5tb, 
6th, 11th, 18th, 20th, 21st, and 22d of February, 1752, it was the 
subject of debate, and finally passed on the sixth day of the follow- 
ing month, receiving the signature of Governor James Hamilton, 
on the eleventh day of March, 1752. 

The Assembly did not name this new county, but the Proprietary, 
Thomas Penn, in a letter to Deputy Governor Hamilton, dated 
London, Sept. 3, 1751, says: "Whenever there is a new county, it 
shall be called Northampton." The seat of Lord Pomfret, whose 
daughter Thomas Penn had lately married, was in Northampton- 
shire, in England. William Craig was very active in this matter, 
and upon a petition to the Commissioners for remuneration for loss 
of time and expense, he was paid, in 1754, £30 out of the county 
funds. 

The first court was held on the 16th day of June, 1752, and in 
the Sessions docket is thus recorded : — 



FIRST ELECTION AND COURT. 33 

"At a court of record of our Lord the King, held at Easton, for 
the county of Northampton, the 16th day of June, in the 26th 
year of our sovereign Lord George the Second, by the grace of 
God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, &c, Anno Domini 
1752, before Thomas Craig, Timothy Horsefield, Hugh "Wilson, 
James Martin, and William Craig, justices of the Lord the King, 
the peace in the said county to keep, as also divers trespasses and 
felonies, and other offences in the said county committed, to hear 
and determine assigned. (By commission dated the 9th of June, 
instant.)" Some of these justices had received commissions in 1748 
to 1748. 

The second court was held on 3d October, 1752 ; at this session 
the first grand jury was empanelled, consisting of 

James Ralston, Allen Township. Charles Brodhead, Smithfield. 

William Casselberry, " Garret Brink, " 

Robert Gregg, " Isaac Van Campen, " 

James Horner, " Benj'n Shoemaker, " 

John Atkinson, " David Owen, Up. Saucon. 

John Walker, " John Cooken, " 

Robert Lyle, Mount Bethel. Lewis Merkle,* Macungie. 

Alexander Miller, " Nathaniel Vernon, Easton. 
Michael Moore, " 

The first election in the county was held on the first day of Oc- 
tober, 1752. 

James Burnsides was elected Member of the Assembly. 

William Craig was elected Sheriff. 

Robert Gregg, Peter Trexler, and Benj'n Shoemaker were elected Commissioners. 

This election was held at Easton for the whole county. 

There were no other election districts formed before the Eevolu- 
tionary war, and the greater part of the electors lived twenty to 
twenty -five miles from Easton, and was therefore very inconvenient 
for them. The candidates for Assembly were Wm, Parsons and 
James Burnsides ; the first was the proprietary candidate, and the 

* Lewis Merkle was the only German in the jury. 



34 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

other the Quaker candidate ; the contest was very warm, the can- 
didates and their friends accused each other of foul play ; Parsons 
himself was much excited. The Quaker candidate received a majo- 
rity of several hundred votes. 

Burnsides was a Moravian, and lived near Bethlehem, on his own 
farm; he came from Ireland, about 1742. In 1744 — 1746, &c, he 
had been a missionary at several preaching stations of the Mora- 
vians; one of them was near Broadhead's, in Monroe County; an- 
other at Walpeck. The succeeding elections were carried on with 
the same degree of bitterness. 

William Plumstead* was returned as the regularly elected repre- 
sentative to the Assembly, October, 1756, from Northampton 
County, but was not suffered to take his seat in the House, the elec- 
tion being contested by John Jones, Samuel Mechlin, and Daniel 
Brown, who, in a petition of Oct. 30, 1756, say that the illegality 
of the election could be proved, and the following charges substan- 
tiated. 1st. That , one of the inspectors, notwith- 
standing his oath, destroyed several of the tickets which were in 
favor of William Edmonds, and were delivered to said . 2d. 
That one person was seen to deliver tickets, repeatedly, to the in- 
spector. 3d. A great number of the tickets were folded up toge- 
ther, some one in another, and some two in one, which were received 
by the inspectors as one ticket, &c. The Assembly had the matter 
under consideration for some time, many witnesses were produced 
by both parties, yet the affair was not finally settled until the 23d 
of September, 1757, when the election of Plumstead was pro- 
nounced illegal by a large majority. 

The contest was upheld by the proprietary party on the one side, 
and the Quaker party on the other, Plumstead being the candidate 
for the former, and Edmonds of the latter. Letters were produced 
by the Quaker party, implicating Ptichard Peters, the proprietary 
agent; William Parsons, also, by some overt acts, laid himself open 

* William Plumstead was mayor of the city of Philadelphia. It was not neces- 
sary that a member of Assembly should be an inhabitant of the county from which 
he was elected. 



LETTER OF NICHOLAS SCULL. 35 

to censure. The following letter was produced by John Jones, 
which he had received from Nicholas Scull. 

Easton, Oct. 12, 1756. 
Sik : I make no doubt before this time, you have heard that Johnny Jennings 
has lost the sheriff's office. I believe the reason why, was, that Mr. Parsons wrote 
in Rinker's favor, as I have had some hints that Vernon carried a letter, which he 
intimated would get Rinker the office. I think, if so, there is no belief in Mr. 
Parsons, for, a few days before the election, Mr. Parsons and I had some talk about 
them that purposed to set up for the sheriff's office, and he then said that he 
thought Johnny much the fittest, as he was a sober well-behaved young man, and 
had some experience of the office. But, you know Mr. Parsons is a man that is 
not apt to forget any old difference, and I suppose the difference between Johnny's 
father and him, is the reason that he wrote in Rinker's favor, as Mr. Peters told 
me there was no objection against Johnny, only on account of his father; and I 
think he need never set up for the office any more, for, as I told Mr. Peters, I 
thought it very hard that any misstep of the father should be thrown on the son, 
when he had behaved himself well ; and the answer was, that the iniquities of 
the father should be inflicted upon the children, until the third and fourth gene- 
ration. So, if that is the case, I think that Johnny may be easy, for as long as 
Mr. Parsons is in the country, he will be against him. 

Yours, 

NICHOLAS SCULL.* 

The Johnny Jennings Mr. Scull speaks of in his letter was a son 
of Solomon Jennings, one of the three walkers of the so-called 
"walking purchase." In September, 1737, Solomon resided on a 
tract of land about two miles above Bethlehem, f on the Lehigh 
Eiver (now the Geisinger farm). When he settled here he was on 
the extreme frontier of the county, and became famous as a hunter 
and good walker, which procured for him the honor of being se- 
lected as one of the three walkers. 

Solomon was very fond of whiskey, which probably occasioned 
his giving out on the first day. On the first day of October, 1755, 
he was elected one of the County Commissioners, and on taking 

* The fact of Mr. Scull being a son-in-law of Solomon Jennings, may probably 
account for his antipathy to Mr. Parsons. 

f Laskiel says this was one of the only two houses in the neighborhood of Beth- 
lehem when the Moravians located there. 



36 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

the oath of office he made a + , being unable to write. He died 
in 1757. The "misstep" alluded to in Scull's letter is found in 
the Sessions Docket, under the head of Fornication and Bastardy. 
His son, John Jennings, became sheriff in 1762, and again in 1768; 
he was a very good officer, and was well known in history. The 
New England men at Wilkesbarre will not forget him for some 
time to come. He is frequently quoted by Mr. Miner in his his- 
tory of Wyoming. 

William Edmonds was elected a member of Assembly in 1753, 
and again in 1770 to 1774. Being a Moravian, he had the support 
of the Moravian interest, and thus procured his election. Mr. Ed- 
monds for some years was the shopkeeper of Bethlehem. The 
stock of goods in 1763 could not have been very heavy, as the 
valuation in the tax lists of that year was only £8, or $21 33. 
This valuation, however, is not certain, as the estimates were much 
below their real value. 

The Moravians had all their property in common, which from 
1741 to 1762 they called an "Economy." Mr. Edmonds of course 
did not receive any wages or salary for attending to the store, but 
was provided with the necessaries of life. He acted in the capacity 
of storekeeper under an agreement with one of the clergy,* Bro- 
ther Lawatsch, who as warden had the particular management of 
the secular matters. The agreement between these parties has 
many stipulations and exactions of a character that would not be 
relished by any agent of the present day, drawn up with most 
astonishing minuteness, limits and bounds being set in every shape 
and form, interlarded with pious expressions in abundance. In fact, 
agreements of this nature, which bound both soul and body, made 
the agent a mere machine. About 1763 Mr. Edmonds removed 
near Nazareth, and there kept a tavern and store called the Eosef 
Tavern. One of the governors spent a week at his house, having 
come here, with some others, to shoot grouse on the neighboring 

* The author has seen this agreement with Mr. Edmonds. 

f This building is still standing, about two miles from Nazareth. The origin of 
the Rose will be shown in an article on Nazareth. 



DIFFICULTIES AND HARDSHIPS. 37 

plains. One Sunday the governor, being in a listless humor, asked 
Mr. Edmonds whether he had an interesting book to read. "Yes," 
replied he, "I have a very interesting one," and, on bringing it to 
him the governor found it to be a Bible. Mr. Edmonds after- 
wards remarked that very likely it was a book not often looked 
into by the governor.* 

The early settlers of the county of Northampton labored under 
many difficulties and hardships in consequence of being (princi- 
pally Germans and Irish) habituated to the customs of countries 
that were densely inhabited. Upon their arrival here they found 
themselves as it were in a new world, and were compelled to aban- 
don all their former habits and begin a new life of toil — a life that 
aroused all the latent energy of man — a life to which they were 
entire strangers, and in which all their former experience was 
valueless. 

The writer has frequently heard an aged gentleman of the county 
(Judge John H. Keller) relate the circumstances attending his 
grandfather's arrival in the county about 1730: "Arriving one day 
near a spring of water with his family in the upper part of Plain- 
field township, he made a halt with his wagon, containing all of 
his effects, and seeing considerable timber there, he at once deter- 
mined to locate himself upon that spot, not less than two to three 
miles from the nearest habitation. He unloaded his few goods, 
erected a temporary tent, and there lodged until he put up a small 
log-house." As soon as possible settlers cleared a few acres of 
ground for grain, &c, in the harvesting of which they were much 
annoyed by the deer, the crow, the blackbird, and the squirrel. 
To protect the farmer a law was passed granting bounties of one 
shilling and six pence per dozen for the destruction of the three last. 
But it appears that this was not sufficient, as the inhabitants in 1754 
petitioned the Assembly for further relief from the ravages of the 
squirrel, who, they say, "come in such vast numbers, destroying 
our grain to an extent that renders it very discouraging to plant 

* Information from John J. Edmonds, a grandson. 



3S OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

anything. We pray you, therefore, to amend said law in such 
manner that it be obligatory upon every inhabitant to kill a certain 
specified number of those vermin per year, and that those that 
destroy over and above such number be liberally paid for such 
excess, and that those who destroy less than the specified number 
be subject to the payment of the deficiency, at the same rate."* The 
deer, during the fall and winter, were making nightly ravages on 
the grain then springing up. The wolves would carry off and kill 
their sheep and young cattle. Foxes and minks sometimes in one 
night would destroy all their fowls, and thus they were surrounded 
by every danger, and often deprived of the fruits of their hard 
earned toil. During the first two years we find that upwards of 
fifty wolf scalps were brought and paid for by the County Com- 
missioners, and it is recorded already in 1746, in Bucks County, 
that Nicholas Depui gave an order to one man for the payment 
of the bounty on sixteen wolf scalps, delivered to him in Lower 
Smithfield township. Many a farmer in one night lost his whole 
flock of sheep. It became as second nature to the farmer to have 
his gun or rifle with him wherever he went. Even when working 
on his farm it was found leaning against some tree or upon a 
stump. His horses and cattle were driven out into the woods; the 
working horses or cattle returned to the house in the morning, but 
as young horses and cattle were left roaming in the woods, they 
were often not seen by their owners for six months at a time, and 
numbers of them were stolen by horse thieves. We find the con- 
viction and punishment of nine horse thievesf in the Sessions 
Docket of the county for the first three years after its erection. 

* Votes of Ass., iv. p. 341. 

f John Eggleston, being indicted, &c. &c. December Sessions, 1754. 

Wherefore it is considered and adjudged by the Court here that the said John 
Eggleston shall restore the said horse and mare to the said John Jones, and shall 
also pay to the said Jones, for his loss of time, charges, and disbursements in the 
apprehending and prosecution of the said John Eggleston, and moreover that the 
said John Eggleston shall forfeit and pay the like value of said horse and mare to 
the governor, for the support of government, and shall stand committed, &c, and 
that he shall be publicly whipped with nineteen lashes on his bare back, well laid 
on, &c. 



DIFFICULTIES AND HARDSHIPS. 39 

The range of their operations was so extended as to make detection 
and consequent conviction a rare case. On the 13th December, 
1754, the inhabitants of the county had a petition presented to the 
Assembly, setting forth "that the stealing of horses is becoming 
very frequent in that county, owing, as the petitioners conceive, to 
the smallness of the punishment inflicted by law for that crime; 
the petitioners therefore pray that this House would take the mat- 
ter into consideration and pass an act to punish horse stealers with 
death." Another representation to the Assembly was made by the 
farmers, stating that whereas they were dependent upon a market 
for the sale of their cattle and horses, usually disposed of to traders; 
that since the New England people came into the province with 
numerous droves of cattle their sales have nearly ceased, and the 
disposal of horses for exportation to the West Indians has also 
greatly decreased, they being deprived of all means, of proper sus- 
tenance, pray the House to grant relief, &c. 

In 1730, there was no grist-mill in the county, and the settlers, 
therefore, were obliged to procure their flour from the lower part 
of Bucks County, a distance of not less than twenty or thirty miles. 
These journeys were made along Indian paths on horseback, as 
roads had not extended so far northward, and even in 1754, the 
roads were very few in number, for even if granted and laid out 
by juries they were not opened. This want occasioned the follow- 
ing petition of divers inhabitants of the county of Northampton, 
which was presented to the House of Assembly, Feb. 6, 1754, 
and read : — 

Setting forth " That the laying out of roads and townships within 
the said county, how necessary however the same may be for the 
general good, is very much neglected, by reason that the charge 
attending the doing thereof frequently falls upon a few public 
spirited persons, whilst others, who reap equal benefit with them, 
do absolutely refuse to pay their reasonable and proportionate 
part of the expense, alleging that there is no law of the province 
that obliges them to contribute thereto, therefore praying this 
House would be pleased to take the premises into their serious 



40 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

consideration and grant such relief therein as shall be judged most 
equitable and proper." 

The farmers had no wagons then ; and no roads to travel upon 
for a long time ; some of them occasionally made a wagon for using 
about their lots, the wheels of which were of solid pieces of timber 
sawed round, and the harness of the horses were either ropes or 
strips of untanned hides. The Bethlehem annals inform us that 
such rudely made contrivances were frequently seen in the streets 
of that town in its early days. Men, women, and children worked 
on the farm; all the family rose up from their beds at the early 
dawn of day, the males attending to their out-door work, feeding 
their horses, cattle and swine, whilst the females attended to the 
household duties until breakfast time, after which, both males and 
females proceeded to work at their assigned places, either grubbing 
on new lands, cutting timber, fencing, harvesting, threshing, &c. &c. 
Every member, either male or female, large or small, was em- 
ployed upon such work as they were able to perform by reason of 
strength; sex was not much considered in the division of labor. 
They had also some convivial seasons. For a long time after the 
first settlement, the inhabitants usually married young. There 
was no distinction of rank, and very little of fortune ; on these ac- 
counts the first impressions of love resulted in marriage, and a 
family establishment cost but a little labor and nothing else. A 
description of a wedding will serve to show the manner of our fore- 
fathers, and mark the grade of civilization of their rude state of 
society. At an early period, the practice of celebrating the marriage 
at the house of the bride began, and, as would seem, with great 
propriety; she also had the choice of the minister to perform the 
ceremony. 

A wedding engaged the attention of a whole neighborhood, and 
a frolic was always anticipated by old and young with eager expec- 
tation. This is not to be wondered at, when it is remembered that 
a wedding was almost the only gathering which was not accom- 
panied with the labor of reaping, log-rolling, building, or in plan- 
ning some scouting party or campaign. 



WEDDING PARTIES. 41 

On the morning of the wedding-day, the groom and his attend- 
ants assembled at the house of his father for the purpose of reach- 
ing the mansion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time 
for celebrating the nuptials, and which always took place before 
dinner. 

Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store, 
tailor, or mantuamaker, within thirty miles, and an assemblage of 
horses, without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance. 
The gentlemen dressed in shoepacks, moccasins, leather breeches, 
leggins, linsey hunting shirts, all homemade. The ladies robed 
in linsey petticoats, and linsey or linen bed-gowns, coarse shoes, 
stockings, handkerchief, and buckskin gloves. If there were any 
buckles, rings, buttons or ruffles, they were the relics of olden 
times, family pieces of parents or grandparents. The horses were 
caparisoned with old saddles, old bridles or halters, and pack 
saddles, with a bag or blanket thrown over them ; a rope or string 
as often constituting the girth, as a piece of leather. 

The march in double file was often interrupted by the narrow- 
ness and obstructions of the horse paths, as they were called, for 
they had no roads, and these difficulties even often increased, some- 
times by the good, and sometimes by the ill-will of neighbors, by 
falling trees, and tying grape-vines across the way. Sometimes an 
ambuscade was formed by the way-side, and an unexpected dis- 
charge of fire-arms covered the wedding party with smoke. Let 
the reader imagine the scene which followed this discharge, the 
sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, and the chi- 
valric bustle of their partners to save them from falling, which 
sometimes occurred in spite of all that could be done to prevent it. 
If a wrist, elbow, or ankle happened to be sprained, it was tied 
with a handkerchief, and little more was thought or said about it. 

Another ceremony commonly took place before the party reached 
the house of the bride, after the practice of making whiskey began. 
When the party were about a mile from the place of their destina- 
tion, two young men would be singled out to run for the bottle, 
the worse the path, the more logs, brush, and deep hollows, the 



42 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

better, as these obstacles afforded an opportunity for the greater 
display of intrepidity and horsemanship. The start was announced 
by an Indian yell, logs, brush, muddy hollow, hill and glen, were 
speedily passed by the rival ponies. The bottle was always filled 
for the occasion, so that there was no necessity for judges, for the 
first who reached the door was presented with the prize, with 
which he returned in triumph to the party. On approaching 
them, he announced his victory over his rival with a shrill whoop. 
At the head of the troop, he gave the bottle first to the groom and 
his attendants, and then to each pair in succession in the rear of 
the line, giving each a dram ; and then putting the bottle in the 
bosom of his hunting shirt, took his station in the company. 

The ceremony of the marriage preceded the dinner, which was 
a substantial backwoods feast, of beef, pork, fowls, and sometimes 
venison and bear-meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, 
cabbages, and other vegetables. During the dinner, the greatest 
hilarity always prevailed, although the table might be a large slab 
of timber, hewed out with a broadaxe, supported by four sticks 
set in auger holes, and the furniture, composed of old pewter 
dishes and plates, with wooden bowls and trenchers, and occasion- 
ally pewter spoons, much battered about the edges, might be seen 
about some tables. The rest were made of horns. If knives and 
forks were scarce, the deficiency was made up by the scalping- 
knives, which were carried in sheaths suspended to the belt of the 
hunting-shirt. After dinner, the dancing commenced, and gene- 
rally lasted till the next morning. The figures of the dances were 
three and four-handed reels, or square sets, and jigs. The com- 
mencement was always a square four, which was followed by what 
was called "jigging it off," that is, two of the four would step out 
for a jig, in which they were followed by the remaining couples. 

About nine or ten o'clock, a deputation of the young ladies 
would steal off with the bride, and put her to bed. In doing this, 
it frequently happened that they had to ascend a ladder, instead of 
a pair of stairs, leading from the dining and ball-room to the loft, 
the floor of which was made of clapboards, lying loose, and with- 



WEDDING PARTIES. 43 

out nails. As the foot of the ladder was commonly behind the 
door, which was purposely opened for the occasion, and its rounds, 
at the inner ends, were well hung with hunting-shirts, petticoats, 
and other articles of clothing, the candles being on the opposite 
side of the house, the exit of the bride was noticed but by few. 
This done, a deputation of young men, in like manner, stole off 
with the groom, and placed him snugly by the side of his bride. 
The dance still continued, and if seats happened to be scarce, which 
was often the case, every young man, when not engaged in the 
dance, was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls; 
and the offer was sure to be accepted. In the midst of this hilarity 
the bride and groom were not forgotten. Pretty late in the night, 
some one would remind the company that the new couple must 
stand in need of some refreshment ; Black Betty, which was the 
name of the bottle, was called for, and sent up the ladder, but 
sometimes Black Betty did not go alone, as bread and butter, beef, 
pork, cabbage, went along with her. The young couple were com- 
pelled to eat more or less of whatever was offered them. It often 
happened that some neighbors or relations, not being asked to the 
wedding, took offence, and the mode of revenge adopted by them 
on such occasions was that of cutting off the manes, forelocks, and 
tails of the horses of the wedding-party. 

" The better-to-do" class of people on such occasions were some- 
times dressed in the finery which their parents had brought with 
them from their "fatherland." The groom dressed in his father's 
wedding coat, and the bride in the quilted petticoat which had 
served her mother on a like occasion, in Germany. As the whis- 
key they drank operated upon their courage, they very frequently 
had a brawl or fight. The Rev. Mr. Muhlenberg mentions this as 
occurring at weddings at which he was called upon to officiate. 

In the summer time but very few wore shoes and stock- 
ings, except on extraordinary occasions, and even then very 
seldom. Going to church, or on a visit to town, the females 
carried their shoes in their hand, trudging along barefooted, until 
they arrived at the door of the church, or near the town, when 



44 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

they wiped the mud or dust from their feet, with leaves from the 
neighboring trees or bushes, before putting them on. Before the 
introduction of the " linsej woolsey," the wearing of which was con- 
sidered a great luxury, many an anxious thought was occasioned 
in the minds of the parents of the young people who decked 
themselves with it, that their offspring were approximating too fast 
towards fashionable, and, of course, inactive life. 

When, in the years 1798 to 1800, calicoes were first introduced, 
this departure from the old custom and manners in dress, was de- 
plored by many an anxious mother, its folly frequently alluded to 
by her, and the ruin of the daughter foretold. But the enticing 
adornment of the person never failed in the end to overcome the 
mother's warning. 

The winter evenings then were not passed, as at present, in fro- 
licking around among the neighboring houses, but supper being 
o,ver, and the bread and milk or stirabout being put aside, the 
mother would call to the girls to go to their spinning, while she 
would attend to the mending; the smaller children were sent to the 
corn-crib for a basket of corn to husk for the pigs, or to the cellar 
for pumpkins to cut for the cattle ; and one of the last things done 
before retiring, was to consult the almanac, for the purpose of ascer- 
taining the kind of weather they would have the next day; none 
of the family received more than one pair of shoes per annum, the 
leather for which was procured in exchange for the hide of slaugh- 
tered animals, both wild and tame. The majority of families had 
a weaver's loom, upon which the females generally wove all their 
tow cloth, coarse linen, and linsey-woolsey. 

The Germans, upon their arrival in Pennsylvania, brought with 
them all their superstition and belief in witches, and in almost 
every bush, rock, or stump, they saw the witches playing their 
pranks, and occasionally mounting on the back of a poor wight, 
(as he was returning homewards from a tavern in his neighborhood), 
and riding him, until he reached his own cabin. 

There is a very prominent hill in the southern part of Williams 
Township (and about six miles from Easton), which eminence is 



SONG OF THE WITCHES. 45 

capped by a huge rock, overlooking the country for many miles 
around. This place to the present day retains the name of "Hex- 
enkopf," a German designation; the literal translation of the name 
is Witches' Head, but more properly defined " the head-quarters of 
the "witches ;" from one of the crevices in this rock, there grew a 
large and wide-spreading oak tree. 

This " Hexenkopf" was held to be the favorite resort of all the 
witches from far and near, where, after the manner of the Ketten- 
tanz (linked dances) of the German witches on the Hartz Moun- 
tains, in Germany, they frequently met in a stormy and dark night 
to dance on this rock, and around this tree. The following is one 
of their songs, which is represented as having been heard from the 
witches, while dancing with linked hands around their favorite 
tree. 

CONCERT OP WITCHES. 

Merrily dance we, merrily dance we, round this old oak tree, 
Full many will dance this terrible night, hut none will be merry but we ; 
The ships shall dance on the yeasty waves, the billows shall dance and roll, 
And many a screech of despair shall rise from many a sin-sick soul. 

FIRST WITCH. 

I saw Dame Williams sitting alone, 
And I dried up the marrow within her hip-bone, 
When she arose she could scarcely limp — 
Why did I do it ? She called me " an imp." 

CONCERT OF WITCHES. 

Be merry, be merry, the lightning's gleam itself were sufficient light, 
But we've got us a phosphor-gleaming corpse to be our candle to-night ; 
There never was night more foul and black, there was never fiercer blast ; 
Oh ! many a prank the winds will play, ere this terrible night be past. 

SECOND WITCH. 

I scratched the justice's swine on the head, 
When he wakes in the morning he'll find them dead ; 
And I saw a rich villain, at his house door, 
Loaded with gold, but crimson'd with gore. 



46 OLD NORTHAMPTON COUNTY. 

CONCERT OF WITCHES. 

Be merry, the fiends are roving now ! and death, is abroad on the wind, 
Join hands in the dance, to-morrow's light full many a corpse shall find ; 
Our sisters are out, on mischief bent, the cows their milk shall fail, 
The old maid's cat shall be rode to death, and her lap-dog lose his tail, 
The farmer in vain shall seek his horse, who fasten'd his stable-door 
With lock and with bolt, if he has not nail'd a horseshoe firmly o'er. 

At this point they were intruded upon by some beings of mortal 
mould, whereupon, uttering something like the exclamation of the 
ancient " Blocksberg" witches — " Horse and hattock in the devil's 
name," they were all instantly seated upon broomsticks, and rode 
away at a speed exceeding that of the forked lightning. 

That the witches did not always escape unpunished, is evident 
from the following. 

The case was against a woman for bewitching a horse, whereby 
he " became wasted," and " became worse." 

The jurors, &c, upon their oath, present that S. B., of Williams 

Township, in the county of Northampton, widow, on the day 

of in the year , at the said county of Northampton afore- 
said, certain most wicked acts (called enchantments and charms), 
at the county aforesaid, maliciously and diabolically, upon and 
against a certain white horse, of the value of four pounds, of the 
goods and chattels of a certain justice W., of Williams Township 
aforesaid, on the day aforesaid, and in the county aforesaid then 
being, did exercise and practise, by means of which the said horse 
of the said justice W., on the day aforesaid, at the township of 
Williams aforesaid, " worstended and wasted" away, against the 
peace of our said commonwealth, and against the laws in this case 
made and provided. 

This poor woman at first resolutely (but in vain) denied that 
she was a witch, until overcome by the awe of the grave judges, 
and the oaths of the jurors, she was forced to acknowledge her 
crime, and to suffer sentence amidst the reprobations and impreca- 
tions of the enlightened community who reverenced these laws with 
stupid adoration. 



WITCHES. 47 

Whether the witches yet congregate on the Hexenkopf, the 
writer is not informed, but certain it is that the effect of their 
witchcraft is much lessened by the exorcisms of a witch doctor 
residing near this terrible place, and " whose occupation even now 
is not yet gone." 



E ASTON. 



Easton was laid out in 1750, at which time it was in the 
county of Bucks. Thomas Penn, in a letter from England, dated 
Sept. 8th, 1751, to Governor Hamilton, says:* "Some time since 
I wrote to Dr. Graeme and Mr. Peters, to lay out some ground in 
the forks of the Delaware for a town, which I suppose they have 
done, or begun to do. I desire it may be called Easton, from my 
Lord Pomfret's house, and whenever there is a new county, that 
shall be called Northampton." Thomas Penn had some time pre- 
vious to this date, married the daughter of Lord Pomfret; her 
name was Julianna Fermor. The names of Pomfret, Fermor, Ju- 
lianna, and Hamilton, were introduced into the town as names of 
streets,| and were retained as such for upwards of an entire cen- 
tury. 

There is a tally-list of the workmen employed by the surveyors 
— Parsons and Scull — in which are given the number of days, or 
parts of a day, that each of them spent in assisting at the survey, 
as well as clearing the streets, cutting of timber, &c. This paper, 
which is in the handwriting of Wm. Parsons, is in the possession of 
the Pennsylvania Historical Society, and is dated 9th May, 1750, 
the day on which the survey commenced. Some of the hands were 
employed nine days, several a less time, and others one or two days 

* Penn. Hist. Society's Archives. 

t These old and original names were discarded a few years ago, and the insig- 
nificant ones of First, Second, Third, &c, adopted. We consider that names so 
intimately associated with early history, should never be changed. 



THE INDIAN CHIEF TATAMY. 49 

only; they received each eighteen pence per day as wages,* finding 
their own board. Mr. Parsons had left Philadelphia on the 7th 
inst., and was met here by Nicholas Scull.f During their sojourn, 
they took lodgings and boarded at the public house of John 
Lefebre,;}: about six miles up the Bushkill or Lehicton Creek, near 
where Messinger's tavern now is, on the road from Baston to the 
Windgap. This was the nearest public house to Easton, and was 
situated on the Indian path which led from the "forks" to Tatamy's 
Gap in the Blue Mountains. This path also passed the house of 
the Indian chief Tatamy, about one mile from Lefebre's. 

This chief deserves an honorable notice in the history of North- 
ampton. He was born near the Delaware Eiver, in New Jersey, 
about 15 miles below Phillipsburg; in his youth, he settled in Penn- 
sylvania, and being a man in whom the government of Pennsyl- 
vania placed great confidence, was intrusted with the negotiations 
of a pacific nature between the Indians, the proprietaries, and go- 
vernors, about the year 1742. It was then already that the fairness 
or unfairness of the walking purchase was discussed by the Indians. 
Tatamy (which word signifies a peaceable man), being the principal 
chief of all the Indians in the neighborhood within a circuit of 
more than a hundred miles, by the power of his eloquence and 
judgment, preserved the peace until 1755, at which time another 
man arose amongst his nation who carried with him the great 
body of the disaffected Indians, one whose persuasive eloquence 
made even his enemies tremble at the celebrated treaty at Easton, 
in 1756. It must be acknowledged that the war chief Teedyus- 
cung, cast the peaceable Tatamy in the shade. 

* One of these workmen was Melchior Hay, the owner and occupier of a farm of 
300 acres of land upon which South Easton is erected. 

f Nicholas Scull was the Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania. 

t Lefebre was one of the French Refugees whose ancestors had reached the 
State of New York with the earliest Dutch emigrants about 1620, in connection 
with the Depuis. He is said to have been a man of intelligence, kept a good 
house, and provided liberally. 

4 



50 EASTON. 

Count Zinzendorf visited Tatamy in 1742, at his house near 
Stockertown, and says that he was a man of a mild disposition, 
one who lived much as the white people; he recieved a grant of 
300 acres of land from the proprietaries for his services. He was 
shot near Bethlehem by a boy fifteen years old in 1757. (See Penna. 
Archives, vol. iii. pp. 209, 247, and 251.) An aged gentleman of 
Easton, still living there, says he went to school with the two sons 
of Tatamy, and that he had seen Tatamy's wife often, who was a 
white woman. The poor book of Easton of 1801 contains a record 
of her death and burial. The late Rev. Thomas Pomp preached 
the funeral sermon. Tatamy was the last remaining resident In- 
dian south of the Blue Mountains in Northampton County. 

The amount of Lefebre's bill for the entertainment of Messrs. 
Parsons and Scull, for about ten days, was £2 lis. 9d. inclusive of 
"slings" (the very word used). To provide for a Philadelphian in 
those days was considered no small honor, and therefore we may 
suppose that Parsons and Scull were regaled with the venison of 
the forest, the grouse of the neighboring heath, the trout of the 
brook, and other delicacies of the season. 

The site of Easton had, at some period of the world's history, 
been a pool of water, a cove formed by the retiring of the lime- 
stone rock with which it is rimmed along the Pennsylvania shore, a 
central point for the intermingling of the waters of the Delaware, 
Lehigh, and Bushkill, a kind of whirlpool into which the rushing 
waters precipitated the rocks, trees, &c, which they had rent from 
their original localities and carried in their course to this spot 
where they were lodged. The surrounding hills, as if to aid crea- 
tion, furnished the necessary debris, as a bed to lay in. 

In digging wells, trees have been found at the depth of thirty 
feet, and rocks of tons in weight of the conglomerate formation at 
a depth of six to eight feet below the surface ; of these rocks there 
is no formation nearer than twenty miles above the town, along 
the river. 

Some of the causes that tended to the formation of the site of 
Easton are at present in full operation, the current in the Dela- 



GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 51 

ware along the Pennsylvania shore lessening, and its depth decreas- 
ing, whilst on the Jersey side the current is encroaching more and 
more upon its shores, and the depth of the stream is increasing. 

The underlying rock is the limestone (secondary), yet within 
a short distance north of the town there is a hill of several miles 
in length of the primitive formation, while on either side of this 
hill the limestone rock is unmistakably presented. Geologists call 
it a freak of nature, and such an upheaving of primary rock as is 
here to be seen is rarely met with. For the formation of a cabi- 
net of minerals, the vicinity of Easton affords one of the best oppor- 
tunities in the State. Here is to be found the yellow serpentine 
in great profusion, topaz, beryl, chalcedony ; and other precious 
stones have also been found. There are persons still living in 
Easton, who recollect distinctly that during a high freshet in the 
Bushkill Creek, a part of its waters united with the Lehigh Eiver, 
through a gully running nearly north and south half way between 
the Delaware bridge and the court-house; many inhabitants are 
living whose memories have retained the knowledge of the large 
pond extending from the southwest corner of the large square, to 
the Bushkill Creek, in a northward direction. 

William Parsons, in a letter to Eichard Peters, under date of 
December 3, 1752, gives this general description of this infant town 
of Easton : — 

"Sir: Upon removing my family to this place, my thoughts have 
been more engaged in considering the circumstances of this infant 
town than ever, as well with regard to its neighborhood, as the 
probability there is of its being furnished with provisions from the 
inhabitants near about it; and if there already is, or probably may 
in time be, a sufficient number of settlers to carry on any con- 
siderable trade with the town. For without these, it is not likely 
that it will be improved to any great height, as well with regard 
to the tov/n itself, that is to say, its situation, as to health, trade, 
and pleasantness. 

"Easton is situate in the fork of the Eiver Delaware, exact]y in 
that part of the fork where two main branches meet, and is 



52 EASTOJS". 

bounded on the south by the west branch, and on the east with 
the main branch of the river, which runs, in this place, nearly 
north and south, about 120 perches, to a very pleasant brook of 
water, called Tatamy's Creek, which bounds the town to the 
north. On the west it is bounded by a pretty high hill, that runs 
nearly parallel to, and at the distance of 130 perches from the 
main branch. 

" The site of the town is pleasant and very agreeable ; the banks 
of all the waters bounding it are high and clean ; and if it was as 
large again as it is, being now about 100 acres, it might be said to 
be a very beautiful place for a town. 

"It is true that it is surrounded on every side by very high hills, 
which make it appear under some disadvantages at a distance, and 
might give some occasion for suspicion of its not being very 
healthy ; but during all the last summer, which was very dry, 
and the fall, which has been remarkably wet, I don't know that 
any one has been visited with the fever, or any other sickness, 
notwithstanding most of the people have been much exposed to 
the night air and wet weather. From whence I make no difficulty 
to conclude the place is, and will continue very healthy. As to 
the external advantages or disadvantages of the town, I am not 
yet sufficiently acquainted with the country to enumerate them all. 
The most conspicuous are the adjacent rivers. The main branch, 
in some seasons of the year, is navigable for small craft from near 
100 miles above the town to Philadelphia ; and if it were cleared 
in some places of the rocks which impede the navigation in the 
summer season, above as well as below the town (and I have been 
told that it is practicable in some good measure to clear them), the 
advantage that would accrue from the trade to and from Philadel- 
phia must be very considerable, as water carriage is much cheaper, 
and, in respect to several kinds of merchandise, much safer than 
land carriage. And in regard to the trade up the river, that 
would likewise be very advantageous to the town, as well as to the 
country in general, even in the single article of lumber, as there is 
plenty of almost all kinds of timber above the mountains, where 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INFANT TOWN. 53 

there are also many good conveniences for erecting saw-mills, and 
several are there built already, from whence the town might 
readily be supplied with boards, shingles, &c. The west branch 
will also be of advantage to the town, as it is navigable several 
miles for small craft ; and Tatamy's Creek, being a good stream 
of water to erect mills upon, will also contribute towards the 
advancement of the town. The Jersey side being at present more 
settled near the river, opposite to the forks, than the Pennsylvania 
side ; and, indeed, the land on that side is better watered, and more 
convenient for settlements, than it is on this side for several miles 
about Easton. We have been supplied as much or more from that 
side, as from our own. But how Mr. John Cox's project of laying 
out a town upon his land adjoining Mr. Martin's land, on that side 
the river opposite to Easton, may affect this town, is hard to say, 
and time only can obviate. 

"But, notwithstanding the advantages already mentioned, and 
perhaps many have escaped my notice, it must be confessed that 
the town labors under several considerable disadvantages. The 
first that offers, I mention with submission, is the great tract of 
land called the Dry Land, to the westward of the town. This, 
with another tract adjoining the town to the northward, being 
altogether about 20,000 acres, is almost the only part of the 
country that, by its nearness to the town, were it settled and im- 
proved, could conveniently and readily afford a constant supply o( 
provisions of all kinds, especially the smaller kinds, which would 
not be so convenient for persons who live more remote to furnish. 
To the westward and northward of the Dry Land, are the Moravian 
settlements, about eleven miles from the town. These settlements 
are not only of no advantage, but rather a great disadvantage to 
the town. For, being an entire and separate interest by them- 
selves, corresponding only with one another, where they can pos- 
sibly avoid it, except where the advantage is evidently in their 
favor, it can't be expected that the town should reap any benefit 
from them. Besides, as they have not hitherto raised, and as their 
number is continually increasing by the yearly addition of foreign- 



54 EASTON. 

ers, it is not likely that they will, in time to come, raise sufficient 
provisions for themselves, but are obliged to purchase great quan- 
tities from their neighbors, who would otherwise bring it to the 
town ; but this is not to be expected while they can dispose of 
what they have to sell so much nearer home ; and this leads me to 
wish, for the good of Easton, if the Honorable the Proprietaries 
should incline to have the Dry Lands improved, that it may not be 
disposed of to the Moravians. Not because they are Moravians, 
but because their interests interfere so much with the interests of 
the town. 

"If the Dry Lands should be chiefly settled by them, the Master 
Brethren would have the whole direction and disposal of all that 
should be raised there, which would be more discouraging and 
worse to the town than if the land were not inhabited at all. For 
as long as it remains uncultivated, it will serve for range to the 
town cattle. Between the town and the mountains, which is about 
16 miles, is mostly poor lands, and but thinly settled. The other 
side of the mountain consists chiefly of new settlements, except 
the Minisinks and some other plantations near the river ; but 
very probably in time they will contribute to the advancement 
and trade of the town. On the south side of the west branch, the 
country is the most and best settled, except near the town, where 
the land is very hilly and stony. Upon the whole, the town has 
hitherto been very well supplied with meat, beef, pork, mutton, 
butter, turnips, &c. But how it will be supplied with hay and 
pasturage, I can't clearly yet foresee. I mean if the town increases, 
as I am in great hopes it will. 

" For this winter I think we are pretty well provided ; however, 
this leads me to mention out-lots, which will be more particularly 
wanted here than at any of the other new county towns, as they 
are all of them much better accommodated with meadow ground 
near about them than this town is. If I might presume to speak 
my opinion, and I know you expect I should, if I speak at all, I 
could wish that a sufficient quantity of the Dry Lands might be 
appropriated for out-lots, and that all the rest were to be settled 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INFANT TOWN. 55 

and improved, and that by Dutch people, although they were of 
the poorer sort of them. I don't mention Dutch people from any- 
particular regard that I have for them more than for other people, 
but because they are generally more laborious and conformable to 
their circumstances than some others amongst us are. I need not 
say who they are, but it is an old observation that poor gentle- 
folks don't always prove the fittest to begin new places, where 
labor is chiefly wanted. 

" I can't hear of any considerable body of clay for making bricks 
or potter's work upon any of the proprietary's land near the town, 
but upon the 500 acre tract which was surveyed for Mr. Thomas 
Craig, near the town, I am told is very good clay, both for a 
potter and brickmaker. The 500 acres belong now to one Correy, 
in Chester County. I wrote to you about it very largely in a 
former letter. There are now eleven families in Easton, who all 
propose to stay this winter, and when our prison is finished, which 
there is hopes it soon will be, as it is now covered in, there is great 
probability that the number will increase before the spring .* 

" WM. PARSONS." 

This description of Easton by Mr. Parsons gives a very good 
idea of the town itself, as well as the surrounding country, at the 
time the letter was written. The inhabitants of the town were, in 
a manner, entirely cut off from any communication with the inte- 
rior of the county ; they had then no road laid out to the town, and 
therefore had access to each other only along the several Indian 
paths, which, as all the travel of that time was on foot or horse- 
back, may have answered very well. In the records of Bucks 
County we find a considerable number of applications by petition 
for roads in the more thickly settled sections of the county. The 
first road within the county limits was made from Goshenhoppen, 
in Montgomery Co., through Upper Milford, in Macungy Town- 
ship, to Jeremiah Trexler's (now Trexlertown), in 1732.f After 

* Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ii. p. 95. 
t Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 629. 



56 EASTON. 

the arrival of the Moravians, in 1740, they, within a few years, 
petitioned for a road to Mahony ; this and another one from 
Bethlehem to Nazareth had both been laid out and no doubt 
travelled upon before the erection of the county, and probably 
another one from the Irish settlement, now Allen Township, to 
another Irish settlement in Mount Bethel Township. The Mora- 
vians acted very energetically in all their undertakings, as Mr. 
Parsons, in the preceding letter, admits. In a petition to the legisla- 
ture in 1755, the petitioners strongly deprecate the custom of lay- 
ing out roads without carrying the grants into execution. After 
the erection of the county there were applications to the first and 
second courts held, which were all allowed and granted. A road 
was laid out in 1753, by order of the Assembly, from Easton to 
Eeading. In the commissioners' book we find, June 18, 1755 : 
" Two orders were drawn on the treasurer in favor of Adam Yohe 
for the expenses of four jurymen upon the Provincial road from 
Easton to Reading, £1 4s. lid., or $3 32 cts." There are no other 
charges found for laying out this road of fifty-two miles in length. 

The writer has not been able to ascertain to a certainty that 
dwelling-houses had been erected in Easton previous to the forma- 
tion of Northampton County, but is inclined to believe that a few, 
probably two or three, had been put up in 1750 and 1751. Afc 
the ferry there had been a house since 1739, erected by David 
Martin, the ferryman. Several old gentlemen of Easton remember 
the old ferry-house distinctly on the " Point," at the junction of the 
Rivers Delaware and Lehigh. Mr. Martin is thus mentioned by 
Mr. Parsons (Dec. 15, 1755): — 

" I went over the river with Mr. Martin to see Col. Anderson.* 
Ferrymen had no use for any flat, as most of their customers came 
on foot, and such as had horses swam them over alongside the 
canoe. Nobody had wagons, or even if they had had them, 
there were no roads on which they could have used them. Ferries 
at that time had not the commodious flat to convey over rivers 

* Col. Anderson lived four or five miles up the River Delaware, on the Jersey 
side. His ferry was near Howell's Mills, which many of the older persons recollect. 



FAMILIES IN THE TOWN IN 1753. 57 

wagons, horses, &c. The late John Green, Esq., informed the 
writer that he had been the ferryman here in 1792 or '3. " One 
day," said he, " a man appeared on the Jersey side of the river on 
horseback ; after dismounting from his horse, he hallooed for the 
ferryman. I took my flat and went over the river and took him 
in ; he was quite an old man ; he said that it was near fifty years 
since he had crossed here before, and at that time the ferryman 
had no flat ; a canoe served all his purposes. ' I was obliged to 
take the saddle and saddlebags off my horse and take them into 
the canoe with me ; the horse swam alongside.' Then he, on near- 
ing Easton, said : ' Here, where your fine town now stands, was 
no house ; all was woods with thick underbrush. From the ferry 
I rode along a narrow horse or Indian path to Bethlehem, which 
was then commencing to be built.' " 

In 1745 Mr. Martin petitioned the court at Newtown for a grant 
of a road from his ferry to Bethlehem ; the petition was granted, 
but the road was not made until 1754 or 1755. The ferry-house 
was a one-story log house.* 

William Parsons in his letter of 8th December, 1752, says that 
there were then "eleven families living in the town" (probably 
about forty men, women, and children); the jail was then in pro- 
gress, being already covered ; it was finished in 1753. 

The proprietaries sold the town lots, subject to seven shillings 
ground rent, with the condition annexed, that the purchaser with- 
in two years from the time of purchase should erect a house there- 
on not less than twenty feet square, with a stone chimney. (This 
precaution as to the chimney was necessary, as the general practice 
was to make them of slabs of wood, daubed over with mud both 
inside and out.) 

* The Indian treaties were held at this place in 1756-57 and '58. Several 
shanties had been added to the house by the ferryman, Nathaniel Vernon. The 
Indians were, in 1758, very numerous, at several of the treaties numbering from 
300 to 500. Rum was kept from them during the treaty of 1757 ; at the close, how- 
ever, Teedyuscung requested Vernon to take the lock off the rum cask and let it 
run. 



58 EASTON. 

The eleven families were — 

William Parsons Clerk of Courts, &c. 

Louis Gordon Lawyer. 

Henry Allshouse Carpenter. 

Abraham Berlin Smith. 

Nathaniel Vernon Ferryman. 

Wm. Craig and John Anderson . . Tavern-keepers. 

Paul Miller " 

Ernest Becker Baker. 

Anthony Esser Butcher. 

John Finley Mason. 

Meyer Hart Shop-keeper. 

William Parsons, from the time of the erection of the county to 
his death, in December, 1757, held the offices of prothonotary, clerk 
of the courts, recorder, clerk of the commissioners, and justice of 
the peace, and at the breaking out of the Indian war in November, 
1755, was appointed a major of the Continental troops. In 1754 
he was the representative in the Assembly from the county of 
Northampton. He had been a shoemaker in his early life. In 
1743 he was appointed surveyor-general, which office he held until 
1749, when he received a commission of the peace in Lancaster 
County. Mr. Parsons possessed both talent and energy ; he had 
been appointed by Governor Hamilton to attend to the interests of 
the proprietaries in the county. Thomas Penn, in a letter from 
England, dated July 13th, 1752, says of him : " The account you 
give me of the unfitness of the inhabitants of the two counties of 
Berks and Northampton to act as magistrates and govern them is 
worse than I expected to receive. I well know there must be a 
very great number of strangers to our language and constitution ; 
but thought as the lower part of the county has been many years 
settled there would have been enough among them fit for the car- 
rying on public business, till the Dutch became acquainted with 
our language, which they must do, or be subject to fines for non- 
attendance on courts ; upon the whole, we are very well satisfied 
with the erecting them, and much approve of the appointment of 



CHARACTER OF MR. PARSONS. 59 

the clerks — William Parsons is no doubt the most proper person 
that could have been chosen." 

Mr. Parsons was very active in all the matters he had charge of; 
every page of the early history of the county shows that nothing 
escaped his notice. The whole bent of his mind appears to have 
been directed to the welfare of the place of his adoption. As a 
matter of course he came into collision with persons who had not 
magnanimity sufficient to form a truthful judgment. He at vari- 
ous times exhibited considerable irritability at the slow movements 
of the Germans, and then again at the carelessness of the Irish ; 
the position he occupied was one of difficulty from which he 
could not have expected to escape unscathed. 

In every department relative to the town of Baston or the 
county of Northampton he was looked up to as the adviser and 
umpire. It is supposed that his death was accelerated by his ardu- 
ous duties, and his indomitable perseverance. His letters to Go- 
vernor Hamilton and Eichard Peters, the secretary to the proprie- 
taries, interspersed through these notes, all breathe a great anxiety 
for the prosperity of Easton as well as the whole county. During 
the Indian war of 1755 and '56 and '57 he appears as a father to 
his beloved children, and when the danger was most imminent and 
many others fled, he remained firm ; and yet even this strong man 
could not suppress a sigh, when, in a letter to Richard Peters of 
Dec. 25th, 1755, he says: "This probably is my last letter to you." 
Men of the character of Mr. Parsons were rare. 

Were Mr. Parsons to arise from his tomb on Mount Jefferson, 
and view the town of his care in its infancy, he would exclaim: 
" Is this the town of which I spake on 15th December, 1755 ? In 
this poor little town we are without men and without arms to 
oppose the enemy !" In the northeast corner of South Hamilton 
and Ferry Streets (the old names) he would find the house which 
he erected in 1756 still standing, but far eclipsed in beauty by its 
neighbors. 

Louis Gordon was the first lawyer admitted to practice in the 
courts of Northampton County. The following memorandum is 



60 E ASTON. 

made on the sessions docket : " 16th June, 1752, Louis Gordon 
having represented to the court that he was admitted an attorney 
to practise the law at Philadelphia and in Bucks, was, upon his 
prayer, admitted an attorney to practise in the courts at North- 
ampton." He made Easton his home, and in many instances acted 
in concert with Mr. Parsons. After Mr. Parsons' decease, he in a 
great measure supplied his place. In the various offices during 
the Indian war of 1763-64, his correspondence with the governor, 
and Richard Peters, and others, was frequent. He entered into the 
Revolutionary war with heart and soul, but at the time of trial in 
1777, when the contest between the colonies and the mother 
country wore its gloomiest aspect, he, with a number of other 
kindred spirits, such as Galloway, &c, proved defective. A warrant 
was issued for his arrest, but before it was served he was a corpse. 
He died at Easton in 1777. His daughter Elizabeth was married 
to James Taylor, Esq., a son of George Taylor, one of the signers 
of the Declaration of Independence. James died young, about 
1778 or '79, leaving a widow with five children, some of whom 
removed to South Carolina, where their descendants are still living. 

Henry Allshouse was one of the first residents in Easton. He 
built a house at the northwest corner of the Public Square (now 
Mr. Rader's store). By profession he was a house carpenter, and 
did the carpenter work to the court-house, for which he received 
four shillings and six pence per day (or sixty cents). 

Abraham Berlin was a blacksmith. He prepared the necessary 
irons in the jail ; his name appears prominently in the business 
transactions of the infant town, as one of the contributors to the 
fund for the erection of the school house in 1755. In the digging 
of the well and other improvements, his subscriptions show the 
interest which he took in these enterprises. At the school-house 
he worked five days gratis. At the public well he contributed 
the work for the windlass. 

Nathaniel Vernon was a prominent citizen of Easton. At the 
first court on 16th June, 1752, he applied for a license to keep a 
public house, which was refused ; but another effort being made at 



WM. CRAIG — JOHN ANDERSON — ERNEST BECKER. 61 

the December sessions, a license was granted to him. It was 
about this time he had the charge of the ferry, and his tavern was 
kept in the old ferry-house. It was then that the profits at the 
ferry were increasing so much, that in 1776-77, when owned by 
Louis Gordon, it was the most profitable business in Easton, and 
in 1782, when Jacob Able had it in possession, it was rated at 
.£220, whilst Peter Kichlein's mills, with eleven acres of land, 
several houses, &c, is rated at ,£200 ; and David Wagoner's mills, 
besides eight acres of land, at £195. Mr. Vernon's subscription to 
the school-house is <£3, or $3, one of the highest on the list. He 
left Easton in 1758 soon after the Indian treaty, and removed up 
the Susquehanna River. 

William Craig and John Anderson erected a tavern on the lot 
adjoining the jail lot ; they received a license on the 16th June, 
1752. This property a few years afterwards came into the pos- 
session of Christian Rinker, who for many years was the landlord. 

Paul Miller came to this town from Philadelphia. In 1754 he 
employed Jasper Scull to erect a tavern-house for him at the 
southwest corner of Hamilton and Northampton Streets (now Rinek 
& Semple's Rope Store). It was in this house that Governor 
Denny lodged when at the Indian treaty in 1758. 

Ernest Becker was a baker, a German immigrant ; he was the 
maternal grandfather of Mr. George Troxeil, to whom Mr. Becker 
communicated the following circumstances attending his arrival 
at Easton with his family : " When I came to Easton," said he, 
" there were only three houses built, in none of which was there 
room to accommodate myself and family, therefore I was obliged 
to unload my few goods upon the public square, and there under 
a tree strike up a tent, and encamp until I had erected a small 
house, which did not require many days, being generously assisted 
by the other inhabitants (the house was in North Hamilton Street, 
several perches from Northampton Street). My intention was to 
follow my business as a baker. I labored under considerable 
difficulties ; the procuring of flour rendered it necessary for me to 
go to Bethlehem, where a mill had been erected a few years before, 



62 EAST03ST. 

and there being no road to that place yet opened, I took a bag 
and walked there on the Indian path, and on my back returned 
with as much flour as I conveniently could carry. My supply was 
frequently replenished in this manner." Mr. Becker was yet living 
in 1785. 

Anthony Esser was a butcher. It appears that he was rather 
scant in stock when Mr. Parsons wrote to Eichard Peters, Esq., 
of Philadelphia, on the 3d April, 1757. "I have seen no mutton," 
says he, " since last treaty (July, 1756), neither have I any person 
in my house that knows how to dress it ; I have sent for some to 
Philadelphia. This week I intend to move into my new house." 
A sad condition this, nobody in Easton to roast the mutton for 
Mr. Parsons' flitting frolic! The matter admits of explanation. 
Sheep were not killed, or very seldom ; they were kept for their 
fleece. Cows were kept for their milk; other cattle were not 
raised ; it was only the male calf whose life was in jeopardy, and 
besides, the hog was the only meat eaten, except an old cow 
occasionally whose rings round her horns had grown to near the tip. 
Pork, either salted or dried, was the meat generally eaten, but 
as it was always broiled, and never roasted or fried, herein con- 
sisted principally Mr. Parsons' difficulty.* The good housewives 
could no doubt have dressed Mr. Parsons' mutton by boiling it 
with sour-crout, or dried apples and dumplings. Mr. Esser encou- 
raged education by subscribing fifteen shillings towards the build- 
ing of the school-house. It appears that he got into some difficulty 
with Mr. Yernon in Sept., 1758. Mr. Vernon had been engaged 
by the agent of the governor, Mr. Swainef (the prothonotary after 
Mr. Parsons' decease in 1757), to make all the necessary provisions 

* The writer, for some years, from 1815 to 1817, kept bachelor's hall at his iron- 
works in Bushkill Township, N. Co. An old woman from the neighborhood, of 
near 70 years, kept house for him ; before this she, during her long life, had never 
roasted or fried any meat. The old lady considered it a great waste to roast 
meats. 

t Mrs. Swaine had borrowed from Mrs. Stedman, of Philadelphia, tea service to 
be paraded before the expected great folks from the city ; amongst these was a 



CONTRACT WITH MR. FINLEY. 63 

for the expected Indian treaty, which was to take place in a few 
weeks. Esser lived in a house belonging to Yernon ; he was de- 
sired to move out to make room for some of the expected gentry of 
Philadelphia, who had trouble to find lodgings. Swaine, under 
date of 4th Sept., 1758, says to Richard Peters, in a note : " After 
I had sealed this letter, the butcher in town, Anthony Esser, came 
and informed me Vernon would buy no meat of him, and he 
hath engaged many beefs, unless he will quit his house, and let it 
to the commissioners or the Quakers. This will be to the poor 
man's great loss." There was a contest going on between the govern- 
ment or proprietary party and the Quakers ; the former endeavored 
to secure all the good lodgings in the town, and thus crowd out 
the Quakers from coming to the Indian treaty. 

John Finley was the mason who laid up the walls of the prison 
in 1752. The stone wall inclosing part of the prison lot is men- 
tioned in the commissioners' books; on the 20th January, 1755, at 
a meeting, the following is entered : — 

" The same day the commissioners agreed to lay a three-penny 
tax upon the county, for the ensuing year, and that a stone wall 
inclosing part of the prison lot for a yard to accommodate the 
prisoners, and two wells should be built, and that John Finley 
have the preference of carrying on said work. On the 21st Feb- 
ruary following, the contract was made with Mr. Finley. The 
commissioners agreed with John Finley to dig and finish the wells 
in the prison yard of three feet diameter, at and after the rate of 
fifteen shillings per foot. Also to build the wall of the prison 
yard according to the dimensions he shall hereafter receive, at and 
after the rate of seven shillings and six pence per perch, finding 
everything necessary for the work, &c. 

Last, but not least, of the eleven original settlers mentioned by 
Mr. Parsons is Meyer Hart, the shop-keeper. What the worth of 
his stock was in 1752 is not stated, but in 1763 his county tax 
was nineteen shillings, being more than that of any other man in 

silver tankard, to which. Mrs. Swaine took so great a fancy, that she would not re- 
turn it to the owners. A suit was afterwards brought for its re-delivery. 



64 eastoist. 

Easton. At this time he owned three houses, several negroes, 
besides his stock in trade. In 1782 his goods are valued at £439 
(near $1200). It may be supposed that in 1752 the value of his 
stock may have been about $300 to $500. What it consisted of 
is difficult to determine. In 1755 he furnished twenty pounds of 
nails towards the building of the school-house. These nails were 
then worth about twenty cents per pound (being wrought nails). 
It seems very doubtful whether Miss Grace Parsons or Miss 
Elizabeth Gordon could be furnished with silk dresses, and hundred 
dollar shawls, from his stock, and besides this, Miss Parsons wore 
plainer materials than these when she rode as express for her 
father to Philadelphia with a letter to the governor, in 1755, when 
the inhabitants were almost momentarily in expectation of being 
murdered by the Indians. Mr. Parsons tells us that he had 
not the money to pay any other express, and therefore was 
obliged to send his daughter. Meyer Hart had a son named 
Michael, who, about the commencement of the Eevolotionary 
war, commenced a store in Easton, in the southeast corner of the 
great square. This gentleman, from an impediment in his speech, 
was called the " stuttering Jew," which used to enrage him very 
much. An anecdote was related of a country-woman, who, going 
into his store, and not knowing Michael, asked him if he was the 
stuttering Jew. At this he became very angry; the woman ran 
out of the store into a tavern on the western side of the street, 
in the rear of Titus's store, where she hid herself; Michael fol- 
lowing her into the house in a great rage, required the landlord 
to let him see her, which was prudently refused. As a good 
Jew, he abhorred pork; his son one day transgressing in this par- 
ticular, he charged the son with the offence, and laying hold of 
him choked him behind the door so severely that the son threw 
up the offensive matter. As soon as this was done Michael ex- 
claimed, " IST-n-n-now the devil is out." 

Conrad Ehrich came to Easton in 1754. A short time before 
his death (said the late Mr. Higgins to the writer), I visited Mr. 
Ehrich. He related to me some of the circumstances attending his 



FIRST CHURCH AND SCHOOL-HOUSE AT EASTON. 65 

arrival in America. "When I arrived at Philadelphia (said he), 
my endeavors to procure work in that city were unsuccessful. The 
city was full of newly-arrived immigrants, most of whom could 
obtain no employment. I felt very much discouraged, and wished 
myself back to Germany. Walking through Market Street one 
day, I saw large heaps of what I considered pumpkins, and observ- 
ing people buying them, thinks I to myself this must be a poor 
country, where they eat the food which we in Germany feed to our 
hogs. After some days I was directed to go about sixty miles 
northward, where a town was commenced (Easton). When I 
arrived there I could get no work; the people were nearly all as 
poor as myself. I then went over Chestnut Hill, where a man who 
had settled there lately gave me work at grubbing out the ground 
oak bushes, and paid me eighteen pence per day." 

The first church and school-house in Easton was erected in 1755, 
and was paid for by private subscription. The same building an- 
swered for both purposes, and was built of logs. 

A society had been formed in England and Germany in 1751, for 
the instruction of the poor Germans and their descendants settled 
in Pennsylvania. Eev. Schlatter, a German Eeformed minister, 
exerted himself greatly in behalf of the Germans, and the forma- 
tion of the society owed its origin to his exertions. A large num- 
ber of the nobility in England contributed liberally. King George 
the Second subscribed one thousand pounds, the Princess of Wales 
one hundred pounds, &c. &c. The funds thus created were distri- 
buted by trustees appointed. William Smith, then President of the 
University of Pennsylvania, being one of the trustees, subscribed 
thirty pounds towards the building of the school-house at Easton, 

William Parsons was very active in the matter. The propriety 
of receiving the subscriptions of the citizens of Easton in aid of 
the project occasioned a correspondence between him and Mr. Pe- 
ters, the Proprietary Secretary. In one of his letters Mr. Parsons 
remarks "that it would be to the interest of the school if the inha- 
bitants of Easton were not asked to contribute to the fund," giving 
as a reason the quarrelsome disposition of the inhabitants, who 
5 



6Q 



EASrON. 



were all Dutch, and so stubborn were they that they quarrelled for 
every trifle; and as the object of the school would be to educate 
their children, he added, "if we allow them to subscribe towards 
the building, every subscriber will think the school must be con- 
ducted as he suggests, and as they will all have different notions, 
there will arise a general quarrel amongst them; then, to spite each 
other, they will not send their children to the school at all, and by 
that means frustrate the object of it."* 

The following are the subscriptions for building the school-house 
in Easton: — 

We, the subscribers, being truly sensible of the great advantages our posterity 
may reap from the excellent charitable scheme lately formed in England, for the 
education of Protestant youth in Pennsylvania, and being extremely desirous to 
encourage and promote the same, as far as in our power lies, have engaged and 
agreed, and hereby do engage and agree to and with William Parsons, James Mar- 
tin, Peter Trexler, Esq., John Lefebre, Lewis Gordon, and Peter Kechline, deputy 
trustees, mentioned and appointed by the trustees-general of the said charitable 
scheme, that each of us will pay the sum of money, and do and perform the work, 
labor, and service, in building and erecting a school-house, which may occasionally 
be made use of as a church for any Protestant minister, to our names hereunto 
respectively set down and affixed. 

Dated Easton, Pa., the 31st day of July, 1755. 



William Smith, in behalf of 


£ 


s. 


d. 


John Sevitz, 




£ 



s. 

15 


d. 




the Proprietor and Trustees, 


30 








Anthony Esser, 







15 





William Parsons, 


5 








George Reichart, 







15 





Louis Gordon, 


3 








John Wagle, 




1 








Nicholas Scull, 


3 








George Ernst Becker, 


1 








Nathaniel Vernon, 


3 








John Rinker, 







10 





Peter Kichline, 


2 








N. N., 







7 


6 


Christian Rinker, 


1 








Daniel Gies, 







5 





Jacob Bachman, 


1 








Jeremiah C. Russel, 


1 








Jacob Miner, 


1 








Paul Miller, 




1 


5 





Adam Yohe, 


1 





10 
10 







John Fricker, 

Pennsylvania 


currency, 


1 


6 





Lewis Knauss, 
Lewis Klotz, 


£61 


1 





Henry Becker, 





7 





Meyer Hart, 20 lb. 


nails. 








Geo. Mich'l Shurtz, 





15 





Paul Reeser, 1000 


shingles. 









* Historical Society's MSS. 



SUBSCRIBERS TO SCHOOL. 



67 



Jacob Minor, 1 2 days' work. 
Stephen Horn, 1 week's work. 
Henry Allshouse, 5 days' work. 
John Horn, 5 days' work. 
John Finley, 6 days' work. 
John Nicholas Reeder, 6 days' work. 
Barth'w Hoffman, 5 days' mason work. 
Robert Miller, 4 days' do. 



John Henry Bush, 5 days' carpenter w'k. 
Jacob Krotz, 5 days' carpenter work. 
James Fuller, 5 (Jays' stone digging. 
John Chapman, 3 days carting stone. 
Henry Rinker, 30 bushels lime. 
Henry Bush and John Weidman, 30 wa- 
gons stone and digging. 
Thomas Harris, 50 sash lights. 



Some of the subscribers to the school-house were not residents 
of Easton ; for instance, Jeremiah C. Russel was the Presbyterian 
clergyman of Allen Township, and also school-master at the same 
time. 

George Michael Shortz was a farmer on the Dry Lands ; Lewis 
Klotz, Esq., an inhabitant of Macungy Township, now Lehigh 
County, where he held a farm of 280 acres of land ; he was one of 
the justices appointed soon aft*r the erection of the county. In 
1754, he was elected a County Commissioner. Christian Rinker 
lived in Upper Saucon Township, now Lehigh County; he was one 
of the commissioners when the school-house was built, elected in 
1753. 

John Wagle was Clerk of the Commissioners in 1760, and County 
Treasurer. 

Stephen Horn was an Eastonian; in 1777, he was sent to Phila- 
delphia by the Committee of Safety of Northampton County to 
learn the art of manufacturing powder ; by trade he was a mason. 
At the commencement of the Indian war, in November, 1755, 
the jail had been finished, the school-house built, and the public 
well dug, and about thirty to thirty-five dwelling-houses erected. 
The panic created by the murders at Gnadenhutten and other 
places struck terror into the inhabitants, not only at Easton, but 
throughout the whole county. All the inhabitants of the county 
that could leave their homes, fled in the greatest consternation. 
On the 19th December, 1755, Mr. Parsons wrote to Governor 
Morris, as follows: — 

"Honored Sir: Mr. Peters, by his favor of 14th instant, informs 
me that it was uncertain when you should return to Philadelphia. 



68 EASTON. 

" Therefore having this opportunity, I thought it was my duty 
to embrace it to inform you that, now our country is deserted all 
along the Delaware Eiver, on this side of the mountains, quite 
down to this town, which is now become the only barrier along the 
river, and we are really in a poor condition to repulse the enemy. 
By a letter from Mr. Franklin, of the 15th, just now received, 
he informs me that Mr. Hamilton and himself were to set out 
yesterday for these parts. I am in great hopes when Messrs. 
Hamilton and Franklin are with us, they will take measures to put 
us in a better posture of defence."* 

The inhabitants of Easton were in hourly danger of their lives, 
without any means of defence ; they had none, or but very few guns, 
and were not provided with ammunition. They were all too poor 
to purchase guns ; their situation in this respect was similar to the 
thirty resident families in Allentown on 17th Oct., 1763. Colonel 
Burd, passing through that town, says to Governor Hamilton : " I 
was in the town of Northampton ; I found only four guns, three of 
which were unfit for use, and the enemy within four miles of 
them."f All these frontier towns were settled by the poorest class 
of people, such as could purchase no lands, or could not procure 
the necessary implements for farming purposes. Many of them 
were tradesmen to whom a town was most congenial and pro- 
bably most to their interest. 

The County Commissioners did not meet from Nov., 1755, to 
June 22, 1756. All business was paralyzed ; every other con- 
sideration put aside ; self-preservation engrossed their whole atten- 
tion. The treaty in 1756 put a temporary stop to the incursions, 
but at the commencement of 1757, the former scenes were re-en- 
acted; and again repeated in 1758. Courts were held at irregular 
periods, and some of the Commissioners could not attend. " The 
Indians are in our neighborhood," was usually given as the excuse 
for non-attendance. Yost Dreisbach gave as his excuse, "I must 
grind wheat for the forts." 

A large number of Indians having come to Easton some days 

* Penna. Archives, vol. ii. p. 539. f Ibid., vol. iv. p. 125. 



CONFERENCES WITH THE INDIANS. 69 

previous to the commencement of the treaty in July, 1756, Mr. 
Parsons became very uneasy, fearing that they might become 
incensed, and commit some acts that would put the lives of the 
inhabitants in danger. He therefore wrote to Secretary Peters the 
following letter, July, 1756: — 

" There are now a large number of Indians in our town, and 
but very few soldiers to take care of them. Our Dutch farmers, 
when they come to town, always go to see them, and the Indians 
always beg whiskey or rum of them ; and as the Dutch all drink a 
great deal of those liquors, arid get drunk in town, and in that 
state mingle and quarrel with the Indians, I am very fearful that, 
unless more troops are sent to keep off the drunken Dutch, they 
will become enraged, and do mischief in town. The Dutch farm- 
ers are very quarrelsome when they are drunken. They all drink, 
and it happens but very seldom that any Dutchman leaves town 
sober. To avoid any trouble you should attend to this matter 
immediately."* 

The first conference with the Indians held at Baston since the 
commencement of the Indian war began on the 24th July, 1756. 
Robert Hunter Morris, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, was 
present ; also four members of Council, the four Commissioners 
appointed by the Assembly, and about thirty other gentlemen 
from Philadelphia. 

In November of 1756, another conference was held, and another 
again in July, 1757 ; and others in 1758, '60, '61, and '62. 

At the first conference, of July, 1756, twenty-four Indians were 
present, but the parties were not fully prepared, and as the attend- 
ance was small, the more important matters were deferred until 
autumn. On the 8th Nov., 1756, the second conference com- 
menced, which was attended by Delawares, Shawanees, Mohicans, 
and Six Nations, who were represented by their principal chiefs and 
warriors. They met Governor Denny, with his Council, Commis- 
sioners, and Secretary, and a great number of citizens of Philadel- 
phia, chiefly Quakers. Great pomp was observed on these occa- 

* Historical Society's MSS. 



70 E ASTON. 

sions. "At three o'clock," says the record, "the Governor marched 
from his lodgings to the place of conference, guarded by a party 
of the Eoyal Americans in front and on the flanks, and a detach- 
ment of Colonel Weisar's Provincials in subdivisions in the rear, 
with colors flying, drums beating, and music playing ;" which 
order was always observed in going to the place of conference. 
Teedyuscung, who represented four tribes, was the principal 
speaker on the occasion. 

When the Governor requested of him to explain the cause of 
the dissatisfaction of the Indians, he mentioned several, among 
which were the instigations of the French, and the ill usages or 
grievances they had suffered both in Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. 

"When the Governor desired to be informed what these griev- 
ances were, Teedyuscung replied: "I have not to go far for an 
instance; this very ground that is under me (striking it with his 
foot) was my land and inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud. 
When I say this ground, I mean all the land lying between Tohic- 
kon Creek and Wyoming, on the River Susquehanna. I have not 
only been served so in this government, but the same thing has 
been done to me as to several tracts in New Jersey, over the 
river." The governor asked him what he meant by fraud. Teedy- 
uscung answered : " When one man had formerly liberty to pur- 
chase lands, and he took the deed from the Indians for it, and then 
dies, after his death his children forge a deed like the true one, 
with the same Indian names on it, and thereby take lands from 
the Indians which they never sold ; this is fraud ! Also when one 
king has land beyond the river, and another king has land on this 
side, both bounded by rivers, mountains, and springs, which can- 
not be moved, and the proprietaries, greedy to purchase lands, buy 
of one king which belong to another ; this likewise is fraud I" 

Then the governor asked Teedyuscung whether he had been 
served so ? He answered — "Yes! I have been served so in this pro- 
vince; all the land extending from Tohickon, over the great moun- 
tain to Wyoming, has been taken from me by fraud, for when I 



GRIEVANCES OF THE INDIANS. 71 

had agreed to sell land to the old proprietary (Wm, Perm) by the 
course of the river, the young proprietaries came, and got it run in 
a straight course by the compass, and by that means took in double 
the quantity intended to be sold, and because they had been un- 
willing to give up the land unto the English as far as the walk 
extended, the governor sent for their cousins, the Six Nations, who 
had always been hard masters to them, to come down and drive 
them from the land. The English made so many presents to the 
Six Nations, that they would hear no explanations from the Dela- 
wares, and the chief (Cannasataego) abused them, and called them 
women. The Six Nations had, however, given to them and the 
Shawanees, the country on the Juniata for a hunting ground, and 
had so informed the governor; but, notwithstanding this, the lat- 
ter permitted the whites to go and settle upon those lands. That 
two years before the governor had been to Albany to buy more of 
the lands of the Six Nations, and had described their purchase by 
points of compass, which they did not understand — including not 
only the Juniata, but also the west branch of the Susquehanna, 
which the Indians did not intend to sell; and when all these things 
were known, they declared they would no longer be friends to the 
English, who were trying to get all their country from them." 

He assured the council that they were glad to meet their old 
friends the English, to smoke the pipe of peace with them, and 
hoped that justice would be done to them for all the injuries they 
had received from them. 

Teedyuscung,* duriDg one of his speeches at the treaty at Easton, 

* Major William Parsons, of Easton, on the 26th July, 1756, delivered to the 
Governor, Robert Hunter Morris, and to his council, a diary kept by him, in which 
is related the great Delaware Indian chief Teedyuscung's behavior during his 
stay at Easton at the treaty. 

He is, says Parsons, a lusty, raw-boned man, haughty, and very desirous of 
respect and command. He can drink three quarts or a gallon of rum a day with- 
out being drunk. He was the man that persuaded the Delawares to go over to 
the French, and then to attack our frontiers, and he and those with him have 
been concerned in the mischief done to the inhabitants of Northampton County. 
— Penna. Archives, vol. ii. p. 725. 

i 



72 BASTON. 

July 21, 1856, making use of the word "wish shiksy," Mr. Weiser, 
who knew the word to have a very extensive and forcible sense, 
desired the interpreter to ask him what he meant by " wish shiksy" 
on this particular occasion — he explained himself in the following 
manner: "Suppose," says he, "you want to remove a large log of 
wood that requires many hands, you must take pains to get as 
many together as will do the business ; if you fall short of one, 
though ever so weak, all the rest are to no purpose, though this 
being in itself nothing, yet if you cannot move the log without it, 
you must spare no pains to get it. ' Wish shiksy,' be strong, look 
around you, enable us to get every Indian nation we can, put the 
means into our heads, be sure perform every promise you have 
made to us in particular; do not pinch matters neither with us, nor 
other Indians; we will help you. But we are poor and you are 
rich, make us strong and we will use our strength for you, and 
besides this, what you do, do quickly ; the times are dangerous, they 
will not admit of delay. ' Wish shiksy,' do it effectively, and do 
it with all possible dispatch." 

This conference continued nine days, and at the close of it a 
treaty of peace was concluded between the Shawanees and Dela- 
wares and the English. The governor also offered to satisfy them 
for the lands in the Forks and the Minisinks, but, as many of 
those concerned in the land were not present, that question, at the 
suggestion of Teedyuscung was adjourned, and was fully discussed 
at a subsequent council held at Easton in July, 1757. The old 
deeds were called for, but could not all be produced. It was at 
length agreed to refer the deeds to the adjudication of the king 
and council in England, and the question was quieted for a time. 

Another council was held here in the autumn of 1758, having 
for its object more especially the adjustment of all difficulties with 
the Six Nations, most of the Delawares, the Shawanees, the 
Miamies, the Mohicans, Monseys, Nanticokes, and Coneys, &c, 
were represented (in all 508 Indians). The Governors of Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey, Sir William Johnson, Colonel Croghan, 
Mr. Chew, Mr. Norris, and other dignitaries, with a great number 




. ■■■ 



r^h 



PEACE WITH THE INDIANS. 73 

of Quakers, also attended. Teedyuscung, who had been very 
influential in forming the council, acted as principal speaker for 
many of the tribes, but the Six Nations took great umbrage at the 
importance which he assumed, and endeavored to destroy his in- 
fluence. Teedyuscung, notwithstanding he was well plied with 
liquor, bore himself with dignity and firmness, and refused to 
succumb to the Six Nations. The council continued eighteen 
days. The land questions were discussed, especially the purchase 
of 1754, by which the line was run from near Penn's Creek 1ST. W. 
by W. to the western boundary of the State. All the land under 
that purchase beyond the Alleghany Mountains was restored, the 
deed being confirmed for the remainder, except for lands on the 
West Branch. 

All causes for misunderstanding between the English and the 
Indians being removed, a general peace was concluded on the 26th 
October, 1758. The other councils in 1761 and '2,* held at Easton, 
were concerning the Delaware settlement at Wyoming, in which 
Teedyuscung took an active part. 

At the time these treaties were held at Easton there was great 
difficulty in obtaining quarters for those who attended them, owing 
to their great number — it therefore became necessary for parties 
intending to visit the place during that time to engage accommoda- 
tion some time before. The following correspondence will perhaps 
convey to the mind of the reader some idea of the extent of these 
difficulties, and the accommodations received. In a letter dated 
July 7th, 1757, from Eichard Peters, the proprietary's secretary, 
to Issachar Davis, of Easton, he says : — 

* Letter of Teedyuscung to Governor Hamilton, May 14, 1762 : — 
" As Sir William Johnson hath appointed a time to meet at Easton, I desire 
you, and all such of the gentlemen as are concerned in the land office, to meet us 
at that place on the 13th of next June. 

" Now, brother, as it is a very hard time at present for provisions, I desire that 
you provide some victuals for us, to meet at Bowman's against the time before 
mentioned, and, as I shall bring a good many old men along with me who will get 
weary on the road, I beg also to appoint some small beer or cider at some houses, 
where we shall stop on the road to refresh ourselves." 



74 EASTON". ' 

" The governor intends to live in Mr. Parsons' house (N. E. 
corner of Hamilton and Ferry Streets) whilst at Easton, which is 
now empty, Mr. Parsons being indisposed, and on a journey to the 
seaside for the recovery of his health. 

" The governor desires that you will look at the house, see what 
bedding, sheets, table linen, and other linen necessary for the use 
of a family are left in the house ; what kitchen furniture, wood and 
water there may be, and what servants. 

" By what means butcher's meat, and butter, bread, fowls, and 
other sorts of provisions can be laid in every day, without giving 
the governor's family unnecessary trouble. 

" Perhaps Nicholas Scull will undertake to do all, or a part of 
which is necessary, and to supply provisions and beer. 

" I suppose clean beds can be got for Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Chew, 
Mr. Logan, and two members of council, in good and respectable 
houses." 

Mr. Nathaniel Vernon (the ferryman), in answer to Mr. Peters, 
says: — 

"As to fresh provisions on every day, shall be duly provided, 
such as fowls, beef, mutton, veal, bread and butter, by me. 

" At Mr. Parsons' house there can be got two beds, and bedding 
for to change at any time ; table linens, plenty for twelve persons, 
no servants nor cooks, but as for kitchen furniture, plenty of all 
sorts. 

"Nicholas Scull undertakes to provide servants that shall be 
necessary for the governor, and what gentlemen that shall come 
with him, whilst at Mr. Parsons'. No cook can be got at Easton, 
but good water plenty." 

During the treaty of 1758 the same difficulty was experienced. 
Charles Swaine, Esq., prothonotary and clerk of the courts, wrote 
to Eichard Peters, Easton, Sept. 4, 1758: — 

Sir: I received the favor of yours, and am glad that rny services are acceptable. 
Should be fond of every opportunity to oblige Mr. Peters, or any of the gentlemen 
of the Council, and am concerned at present I cannot do it in so effectual a manner 
as I would wish, by letting you know particularly what is necessary here, and how 



LETTER FROM CHARLES SWAINE TO RICHARD PETERS. 75 

it is to be managed as to providing. I have spoken to Vernon on that head, and 
he said in general it will be in the manner as it was before (former years of trea- 
ties): by which I understand provision is to be daily fetphed from his house, and 
the gentlemen's servants to dress it. This did not content me, and he promised 
to call on me this morning to give me further satisfaction, but hath not called 
before the bearer set out. As to the lodgings, it will be necessary to bring bed- 
steads, beds, &c. I shall take care to have the several lodging rooms well cleaned. 
All the houses have chairs, stools, or benches of some sort, and tables ; only it 
must be considered, those gentlemen who choose to go to Mr. Gordon's house 
(where three or four might live retired) will have everything to find. We are at 
no certainty as to the Governor of New Jersey. What was said as to his taking 
up his residence at Phillipsburg, arose from a report which hath little foundation 
in it, and therefore desires to be excused from receiving the Governor of the Jer- 
seys, from some inconveniences which attend his house, and which the Commis- 
sioners put up with. There is some reason in what he says, but I see he is fond 
of receiving his old guests. Tea, coffee, sugar, wine, candles, which if not allowed 
before, will not now. The wine here is very indifferent, and our tea equipages 
generally earthen cups and pewter spoons. The shed in my yard will be boarded, 
and I believe it will be found to be too cold to be out of doors, excepting just in 
the noon of the day. 

I shall act in the best manner I can, as circumstances offer, and render every 
place as convenient as possible, and keep those places bespoke, though strong 
application is made for lodgings here and houses, by letters to various persons. 

Yours, CHARLES SWAINE. 

P. S. After I had sealed this letter, the butcher in town, Anthony Esser, came 
and informed me Vernon would buy no meat of him — and he hath engaged many 
beefs — unless he will quit his house, and let it to the Commissioners or the Qua- 
kers. Now the Commissioners have room. This will be to the poor man's great 
loss. 

The improvements in Easton were greatly retarded by the 
Indian wars. The prison which had been commenced in 1752, 
was finally finished, including the prison walls and the wells, at a 
cost of about =£400 ($1066 67). The trustees had borrowed £100 
from Richard Peters, Esq., in 1752, towards the building, which 
amount they repaid in 1754, with two years' interest, £112. 
The account was settled by John Jones with the Assembly, on 12th 
February, 1763. {Votes of A ss., vol. v. p. 246.) An addition to the 
jail was made in 1774 at nearly the same expense. Various p&y- 
ments are found to Jacob Weaver and others, for the maintenance 



76 E ASTON. 

of prisoners, at sixpence per day ; likewise for a number of exe- 
cutions on Gallows Hill. 

The bridge over 'the Bushkill Creek at the northern end of 
Hamilton Street, was the next great undertaking, being com- 
menced in September, 1762, under the superintendence of Peter 
Kichlein and John Moore, two of the commissioners. The bridge, 
including fifteen gallons and three quarts of rum at four shillings and 
four pence per gallon, and one barrel of cider, at fifteen shillings, 
which was used at the raising — cost the county £226 15s. 7c?., or 
$604 73. This first county bridge was laid with plank ; having 
become dangerous, in 1792 the present stone arched bridge was 
erected in the same place. 

The building of the court-house (the venerable pile yet standing 
on the great square in Easton), gave occasion to several petitions 
to the Assembly in 1763 and 1765. On the fifteenth October, 
1762, the trustees appointed under the act of Assembly passed 
March 11th, 1752, petitioned the Assembly for an act authorizing 
the building of the court-house at Easton. This petition was not 
acted on then. On the 12th January, 1763, other petitions were 
presented, signed by a great number of the inhabitants of North- 
ampton County, setting forth " that many inconveniences must 
attend building a court-house for the said county, at the town of 
Easton, as directed by a late act of Assembly of this province, and 
praying leave to bring in a bill appointing trustees to erect the 
court-house in some more convenient part of the said county, 
nearer to the centre thereof." Both of these petitions were taken 
into consideration by the Assembly, and decided by them that it 
be built at Easton. This act passed finally, Feb'y 17, 1763. (Votes 
of Ass., vol. v. p. 247.) Another petition was presented after the 
commencement of the building, viz: — 

" May 15, 1765. A petition from a great number of the inhabitants of the county 
of Northampton was presented to the House of Assembly and read, setting forth 
that, by the law which created the said county, passed on March 11th, 1752, cer- 
tain persons were empowered to purchase and take assurance to them and their 
heirs of a piece of land, situate in the town of Easton, in said county, in trust and 



PETITION AGAINST ERECTING THE COURT-HOUSE AT EASTON. 77 

for the use of the inhabitants of the said county, and thereon to build a court- 
house and prison, sufficient to accommodate the public service of said county, and 
for the ease and convenience of its inhabitants. 

"That the petitioners have found on twelve years' experience of the great hard- 
ship and inconveniency of the said law, by fixing the seat of judicature in so 
remote a corner of the said county, for that purpose ; that there could not have 
been a place devised more improper and inconvenient than Easton appears, from 
its being situated at an extreme corner of the county, environed on all sides with 
hills and rivers, secluding it (as it were) from the rest of the county, with which 
it can never have any necessary communication, nor become a thoroughfare or 
place of traffic, the roads, by means of the aforesaid hills and broken lands there- 
abouts, being rendered, in the winter season, unsafe for travelling on horseback, 
and almost impassable for wagons and other carriages ; that the distance of the 
said town from the west and northwest extreme parts of the county, which contain 
the chief of the inhabitants, is very great, not less than fifty to sixty miles, so that 
many persons residing there find the necessary means for recovering their rights 
attended with so much trouble and expense that they rather choose to submit to 
the loss of them than attempt their recovery under so great discouragements ; that 
in particular the road to Easton is extremely inconvenient, passing through a 
large tract of land called the Dry Lands, so thinly inhabited that, in the distance 
of twelve miles from Bethlehem to Easton, there is but one or two huts, and not 
one drop of water, neither in the summer or fall seasons, to refresh either man or 
horse, so that in winter travellers are in danger of perishing with cold, or of being 
parched up in summer with heat ; that the remote situation of Easton is grievous, 
and greatly expensive to all, but in a more particular manner to jurymen, widows, 
and orphan children, whose attendance is indispensably necessary, and who must 
travel with great danger and expense to the said town, especially in the winter 
season ; that it frequently happens that persons who are summoned by the sheriff 
to attend at the courts on grand and petit juries do neglect or refuse to give their 
attendance on account of the great distance and expense, to the hindrance and 
delay of the public service ; that the petitioners, moreover, are put to much 
greater charge per mileage, payable to the sheriff on all suits, by reason of the 
remoteness of the said town, to their great impoverishment ; that the petitioners 
humbly conceive that, as in all good governments, a lesser evil is to be suffered 
in order to obtain a greater good to the community, so they hope that, in this free 
government, a greater evil, though established by law, shall not continue and pre- 
vail, only to obtain a lesser good ; and that, although the inhabitants of Easton, 
in case of removing from there the seat of judicature, may in some measure sup- 
pose themselves to be sufferers, yet it is certainly better that they should bear a 
small inconveniency than that the whole country should languish forever under a 
law which, at first view, appears so grievous and burthensome ; that the petition- 
ers could remind the House of several instances of the like kind with that for 



78 EASTON. 

which they pray, but especially one in the county of Bucks, where the seat of 
judicature was removed from the borough of Bristol, because of the inconveniency 
of its situation to Newtown, where it now stands, as being more central, and con- 
sequently more commodious to the inhabitants ; that the petitioners, therefore, 
most humbly pray the House to take the premises into serious consideration, and 
to forbid the said trustees from erecting a court-house at Easton, and from engag- 
ing in or entering upon the said work ; and that the House would likewise be 
pleased to order a bill to be brought in, and offer the same to his Honor the 
Governor, for repealing so much of the said law as respects the building of the 
said court-house, and give power to proper persons to build and erect the same in 
some convenient place in or near the centre of the said county." 
(Ordered to lie on the table.) 

The Barrens, or Dry Lands, to which allusion has been made, 
are also spoken of in the following letter from Count Zinzendorf 
to Mr. Spangenberg, of Bethlehem, dated from England, March 
15, 1743, and which we here insert to show the value of the land 
at that time : — 

" To end as speedily as possible the misunderstanding of the proprietary 
government concerning a road between Bethlehem and Nazareth, I give this to 
you as my final determination. Whenever I have resolved to keep Nazareth (the 
5000 acre tract) for the Brethren, which perhaps I may not do, inasmuch as it is 
too remote from our houses at Bethlehem, I would like to be accommodated with a 
wider road than ordinary to go thither. It would be no more than right for the 
proprietaries to make us a present of the ground over which it passes, because 
usually all the roads are given gratis, and because the width of this one is of no 
account to the proprietaries, the country through which it passes being absolutely 
a desert without wood or water, and of such a nature that it never can be sold. 

" But as I am told, and as it appears to me probable, that to make the road 
straight as possible, it would cut across a little tongue of land belonging to Sir Tho- 
mas Penn, I resolved to buy all that plantation, which contains 500 acres at most, 
as it appears in the draft of the lands of the forks made by the proprietaries' 
agents. Without this tract (for which I would have paid as much as it was worth 
at the time of the contract), the rest of the road at the rate of £15 per hundred, 
is an excessive price, inasmuch as those parts of the forks called the Dry Lands 
are worth nothing at all, and nobody wants them. In order, nevertheless, to do 
the duty of a good friend of the proprietaries, and of an inhabitant of their terri- 
tory, I propose to Mr. Peters to purchase this road at this price, and I have so 
written. But if the proprietaries consider it to their disadvantage, I desist from 
it. Even if the proprietary made me a present of a road, of a mile in width, from 



THE COUETS, ETC. 79 

Bethlehem, to Nazareth, the country is so barren that they would lose but little by 
it. The more freely I ask only a king's-road (two rods wide, according to custom), 
for the convenience of commerce, without intending to purchase. 

" London, March 25, 1743. ZINZENDORF." 

This statement would hardly be believed by one now passing 
through the fertile limestone farms between Easton and Bethlehem, 
some of which are the finest in the State, and the great fruitfulness 
of which is well testified to by the extensive barns, fine farm-houses, 
and healthy looking lads and lasses. 

The courts from June 16, 1752, to March 6, 1766, were held in 
different public houses, as Jacob Bachman, Peter Kichlein, Frede- 
rick Nungessor, Henry Bush, Frederick Shouse, and others. The 
rents paid were from three to seven pounds per year, including 
wood and candles. The court did not continue more than one or 
two days each session from 1752 to 1760. After that time busi- 
ness increased, and three and four days were consumed every 
session. 

Great formality was used by the justices at the courts. It was 
the custom to escort them from their dwelling or lodging-houses 
by the constables walking in front and rear, carrying the insignia 
of their office with them ; the " constable staves." Of these there 
is an entry, March 18, 1755. An order was drawn in favor of the 
United Brethren for painting, &c, twenty-five constable staves, 
£9 7s. 6d., or $25. The judges wore a three cornered cocked hat ; 
on the bench they looked very grave, and of great importance; 
the enlightened community standing around the bar apparently 
absorbed in stupid adoration. 

The plan of the court-house was taken from Carpenters' Hall in 
Philadelphia. The cost of the building was £1721, or $4,589.67, 
including eight dollars patent fees, and all the expenses and charges 
of the trustees. Most of the moneys were paid by the commis- 
sioners on orders drawn by the trustees in favor of George 
Taylor. 

The court-house was graced by the whipping-post and pillory. 
These emblems of ancient times were placed on the south side of 



OCT 88 *W 



80 



EASTON". 



the public square, in the middle of Pomfret Street. The cost of 
the boards, iron, and carpenter work, was about ten pounds. We 
find in the sessions docket that many culprits were sentenced to 
be whipped at this post, with nineteen to thirty-nine stripes, " well 
laid on," on the bare back. These scoundrels may have deserved 
a good whipping, but we find also poor Mary Nickum, who, being 
overcome in an hour of temptation by the evil one, appropriated 
some linen to her own use, being the property of another person, 
to the value of twenty-six shillings and ten pence, was sentenced 
to have her back exposed to the gaping crowd, and to have there- 
upon inflicted nineteen stripes, " well laid on." It was not until 
1790 that the whipping-post disappeared. 

The following is a list of the taxable inhabitants in Easton in 
1763, with their trades and occupations. 



Henry Allshouse, carpenter. 
Jacob Andemeyer, laborer. 
John Anderson. 
Jacob Beringer, shopkeeper. 
Jonathan Barker. 
Abraham Berlin, smith. 
Ernst Becker, baker. 
George Bush, carpenter. 
Henry Bush, breeches-maker. 
Ephraim Blum, gunsmith. 
Jacob Bachman. 
Henry Barnet, tanner. 
George Barnet. 
Stophel Bittenbender. 
Peter Conrad, weaver. 
John Dengler, laborer. 
Widow de Lyon. 
Peter Eahler, poor. 
Anthony Esser, butcher. 
Jacob Grotz, carpenter. 
Andrew Grotz. 
Louis Gordon, prothonotary. 
Peter Holl, carpenter. 



Meyer Hart, innkeeper. 

Jacob Hembt, innkeeper. 

George Held, poor. 

William Held, skindresser. 

Bartholomew Hoffman, mason. 

Stephen Horn, mason. 

Zachariah Hogelberg. 

Charles Hyer. 

John Jones. 

Henry Kepple. 

Peter Kichline, Esquire, 1 g. and 1 s. 

mill. 
Ludwig Knaus, saddler. 
Anthony Lerch. 
Abraham Labar, tailor. 
Daniel Labar, shoemaker. 
Michael Lehn, laborer. 
Nicholas Loch. 
William Ledley, shopkeeper. 
John Mush, shoemaker. 
Isaac Menor. 
Frederick Nungessor, shopkeeper and 

innkeeper. 



TAXABLE INHABITANTS IN 1763. 



81 



Jacob Opp, innkeeper. 
Michael Opp, weaver. 
Jonathan Pettit. 
Adam Keisser. 
John Rinker, innkeeper. 
Edward Rinker, innkeeper. 
John Ross, tailor. 
Badtzer Rockel. 
Friederich Rieger. 
Paul Reeser, poor. 
Adam Shouse. 
John Stell wagon. 
Frederick Shouse, mason. 
Widow Snyder. 
Henry Snyder, shoemaker. 
John Spering, shoemaker. 
John Simon, hatter. 
Ludwig Shaup, carpenter. 
Herman Snyder, tanner. 
George Taylor, esquire. 
James Taylor, esquire. 
Jeremias Trexler. 
John Wagle. 

Henry Young, locksmith. 
Mathias Miller. 



SINGLE MEX. 

Andrew Ledly. 
Jacob Grotz. 
Thomas Geitler. 
Andrew Bachman. 
Robert Traill, 



2 weavers. 

2 butchers. 

3 laborers. 

1 grist and saw-mill. 
6 taverns. 

3 stores. 

5 carpenters. 

3 masons. 

2 butchers. 
1 hatter. 

1 locksmith. 
1 smith. 

1 gunsmith. 

2 tailors. 

1 skindresser. 
1 saddler. 



Easton increased very slowly in population from 1763 to 1773. 
In the former year, it contained sixty-three houses ; in the latter, 
only sixty-nine, nearly all of which were small log dwellings, one 
story high. Each of the inhabitants owned at least one cow, while 
the tavernkeepers (of which there were eight), had each two, viz., 
Jacob Able, Jacob Hembt, Conrad Ihrie, widow Nungessor, 
Jacob Opp, John Shock, Theophilus Shannon,* Adam Yohe, jr., 



* Shannon's tavern was in Northampton Street, northwest corner of Fermor 
Street (now Second). In 1779, during the time George Taylor resided at the forge, 
in Greenwich Township, N. J., that lot was sold to Shannon, on which he had 
erected a " stone stable," yet standing, and occupied as a dwelling. Widow 
Nungessor had rented Col. Weiss's house (built by John Okely, Esq., the Moravian, 
in 1757). Col. Weiss was then deputy quarter-master. John Herster commenced 

6 



82 EASTON. 

and Frederick Wagoner. There were 104 cows, 25 horses, and 
about 200 sheep, and probably 200 hogs, within the borough of 
Easton, in 1783. Every family was thus provided with wool for 
clothing, and with milk, butter, meat, &c, for their support. It was 
customary to drive the cows out in the barrens, north and west of 
the town, for pasture. The pigs, in warm weather, were allowed to 
wallow in the pond near the court-house, and the sheep generally 
lay panting in the court-house shade, changing their location from 
the west in the morning, to the east in the afternoon ; George 
Traxell informed the writer that the stench was intolerable in the 
court-house from this cause, and added, "I have often seen near 
two hundred sheep laying around the court-house." There was no 
borough council to interfere with the arrangements of the citizens, 
but every one consulted his own convenience. The pig-pens were 
generally fronting the streets, and built of slabs or rails, the small 
doors of which were usually opened every morning, giving them 
permission to take an airing. The cows came home in the after- 
noon, walking down Ferry Street in single file, accompanied by 
the music of their numerous bells, the housewives standing ready 
with the pail, to milk them on the street. It used to be a lively 
time for the housewives and lassies to squat down in the street, 
drawing the milk from the cows, as they spoke to each other of 
their household duties, or, perhaps, of their admirers. Many an 
agreeable hour was spent by the gallants of the town, who thus 
had a favorable opportunity of seeing their sweethearts, and having 
a chat with them, in the meantime giving assistance to them in 
driving the flies from the animals. The bake-ovens and wood piles 
graced the streets for many years. These obstructions in front of 
the dwellings made a promenade, along the streets, in the town, 
circuitous and dangerous on dark nights. It was not until 1790, 

the shop-keeping business in 1786, with a stock of goods valued at £50, or $133 33. 
The valuation of real estate was trifling, and much below its real value ; in 17S2 
Michael Hart's house was rated at £500, continental money (then 75 for one), 
being near ten dollars ; others as low as 15 to 75, or $100, or from 50 cents to $3 
each. William Ledley (the father of Dr. Ledley), was a shopkeeper ; his occupa- 
tion valued at £2, or $5 33 in 1763, 



PRESENT AND OLDEN TIME CONTRASTED. 83 

or later, that pavements were commenced. The first of the pave- 
ments was from Opp's tavern, toward the public square. The first 
road into the town, from the west, was along Ferry Street. North- 
ampton Street had not been opened further than Juliana Street, 
before 1798, and then only as a narrow pass for one wagon. There 
was more truth than fiction in the petition in 1768, for the removal 
of the county business from Easton, to some more central situation, 
and giving, as a further reason, that the hills at Easton were so 
steep, that it could be entered only at the risk of one's life. 

During our researches in the Philadelphia Library, we were 
somewhat amused by an article we found in a magazine published 
in the year 1790, which censured severely the indolence and fine- 
ladyish manners of the women of that day, and contrasting the 
enervating habits of modern refinement with the simplicity, fru- 
gality and industry of their grandmothers. At the present time 
toe look back with regret to the good old times complained of by 
that same censor, and regard the very matrons whom he stigma- 
tizes as idle, vain, and frivolous, as models of excellent housewifery 
and industrious management. No doubt as we recede into the 
past, we shall find in successive generations similar examples of 
veneration for a bygone age at the expense of the present, similar 
instances of contrast, in which the verdict is always in favor of 
those who have passed from the stage of action. In the next age, 
probably, the matrons of the present day shall have their turn of 
being held up as ensamples for the imitation of their juvenile 
descendants. 

Now, although much of this is certainly to be attributed to the 
universal propensity to prize the worth of that which is gone, 
rather than that which is in possession, it cannot be denied that, 
in some respects, the world does degenerate as it grows older. It 
would require a philosophical and statistical knowledge to point 
out all the matters in which we stand lower than our ancestors, and 
in which those who "catch the manners living as they rise," are 
ready to acknowledge that society deteriorates day by day. "We 
shall not undertake the task, in which the experience and observa- 



84 EASTON. 

tion of each individual would be a more reliable guide in forming 
a judgment. An incident, however, which occurred many years 
ago, will throw a light upon the manners of olden times in the 
quiet village of Easton, and perhaps suggest inquiry to the philo- 
sophical, as to the effects of luxury and refinement on the manners 
of the same community. The story was related to us almost upon 
the spot where the occurrence took place, and is confirmed by the 
recollection of "the oldest inhabitants." The same story was pub- 
lished some years ago in Godey's Lady's Book, and was written by 
that gifted authoress, Mrs. B. F. Ellet. As the style in which it is 
written cannot be improved, we take the liberty of inserting it in 
this work, knowing well that it will prove very interesting, not 
only from the fact of its giving a faithful account of the manners 
of the olden time in Easton, but also from its having emanated 
from the pen of so distinguished a writer: — 

Some eighty years ago, the now flourishing town of Easton, on the Delaware, was 
but a small settlement in one of the remote and comparatively wild portions of 
Pennsylvania. At the present day, the compactly built town fills the space between 
the mountains and the two rivers that here form a junction, while their banks are 
lined with busy manufactories and the dwellings of men. The lofty hills that rise 
abruptly from the plain, or overhang the waters, are cultivated in spots ; and the 
patches of woodland here and there seem spared for the purpose of adorning the 
landscape, and affording secluded walks to the wanderers who love the beauty of 
nature. At the period to which our tale carries us back, the scenery of this beau- 
tiful region was not less enchanting, though far more wild and savage. A dense 
forest then covered the mountains to their rocky summits, and bordered the rivers 
for many miles ; the valley, through which flows a sweet stream to mingle with 
the Delaware, was dark with the shadow of primeval woods, and the waters, un- 
troubled by the different manufactories for the uses of which their streams have 
since been diverted, swept in calm majesty along their time-worn channel, scarcely 
knowing the difference of seasons. Not far from the Delaware, a double row of 
low-roofed, quaint-looking stone houses formed the most populous part of the set- 
tlement. Other dwellings, scattered about in different directions, were built in 
the same style, and evidently inhabited by the same sturdy and primitive Dutch 
population. Many of these houses are still standing, and give a character to the 
appearance of the whole place. It has been often remarked how unchangingly, 
from one generation to another, the habits of the Dutch people are preserved by 
their descendants, giving a monotony to their life and manners, while their more ' 
mutable neighbors are yielding themselves, day by day, to the law of progress. 



THE FATE OF A FLIRT OF THE OLDEN TIME. 85 

This inveterate attachment to the old order of things, and aversion to innovations, 
peculiar to their nation, kept the ancient inhahitants of Easton in the same con- 
dition with their forefathers, notwithstanding the improvements introduced from 
European cities into other parts of the colony. Philadelphia, though at that time 
but a village in comparison to what it is now, was looked upon as a place of luxury 
and corruption dangerous to the morals of youth. Few of the families composing 
the settlement at Easton had ever been there, or had visited any other of the pro- 
vincial cities. They sought no intercourse with the world's great Babel, content 
with the information that reached them regularly once a week with the newspapers 
brought by the post-boy, which were loaned to the neighbors in turn by the few 
who received them. Now and then, it is true, when the business of the day was 
over, a number of men might be seen seated in the large sitting-room of the old 
stone tavern, or on the veranda, wearing their low-crowned, broad-brimmed hats, 
smoking their pipes, and discussing events of which the rumor had reached them, 
when these were more stirring than common. But these discussions were always 
conducted quietly, and without the exhibition of any feeling of partisanship. 
They were terminated at a very early hour, all thought of political matters being 
usually dismissed with the last puff of their pipes, as the worthy mynheers took 
their way homewards. 

As little did the love of change prevail among the good fraus of that day. They 
were of the class described by a distinguished chronicler, who " stayed at home, 
read the Bible, and wore frocks." They wore the same antiquated quilted caps 
and parti-colored homespun gowns, that were in fashion in the days of the re- 
nowned Wouter Van Twiller ; their pockets were always filled with work and the 
implements of industry, and their own gowns and their husband's coats were 
exclusively of domestic manufacture. In cleanliness and thrifty housewifery, 
they were excelled by none who had gone before, or who came after them. The 
well-scoured stoops and entries, fresh and immaculate every morning, attested the 
neatness prevailing throughout the dwellings. The precise order that reigned 
within, in the departments of kitchen, parlor, and chamber, could not be disturbed 
by any out-of-door commotion. Cleanliness and contentment were the cares of the 
household. The tables were spread with the abundance of the good old time, and 
not small was the pride of those ministering dames in setting forth the viands pre- 
pared by their own industrious hands. It must not be supposed that all their care 
and frugality were inconsistent with the dear exercise of hospitality, or other social 
virtues usually practised in every female community. If the visits paid from 
house to house were less frequent than in modern times, there was the same gene- 
rous interest in the concerns of others, and the same desire in each to save her 
neighbor trouble by kindly taking the management of affairs upon herself, evinced 
by so many individuals of the present day. In short, the domestic police of Easton, 
at that remote period, was apparently as remarkable for vigilance and severity in 
hunting out offenders as it has proved to be in times of more modern civilization. 



83 E ASTON". 

The arrival of new residents from the city was an event of importance enough 
in itself to cause no small stir in that quiet community. The rumor that a small 
house, picturesquely situated at the edge of a wood some distance from the vil- 
lage, was being fitted up for the new comers, was soon spread abroad, and gave 
rise to many conjectures and surmises. The new furniture that paraded in wagons 
before the astonished eyes of the settlers, was different from any that had been 
seen before ; and, though it would have been thought simple enough, or even rude, 
at the present day, exhibited too much of metropolitan taste and luxury to meet 
their approval. Then a gardener was employed several days to set in order the 
surrounding plot of ground, and set out rose bushes, and ornamental plants ; the 
fence was painted gayly, and the inclosure secured by a neat gate. A few days 
after, a light travelling wagon brought the tenants to the abode prepared for them. 
Within the memory of a generation, hardly any occurrence had taken place which 
excited so much curiosity. The doors and windows were crowded with gazers ; 
and the younger part of the population were hardly restrained by parental autho- 
rity from rushing after the equipage. The female, who sat with a boy on the back 
seat, wore a thick veil ; but the pleasant face of a middle-aged man, who looked 
about him, and bowed courteously to the different groups, attracted much atten- 
tion. The man who drove had a jolly English face, betokening a very communi- 
cative disposition ; nor was the promise broken to the hope ; for that very evening 
the same personage was seated among a few grave-looking Dutchmen who lingered 
at the tavern, dealing out his information liberally to such as chose to question 
him. The new comer, it appeared, was a member of the Colonial Assembly, and 
had brought his family to rusticate for a season on the banks of the Delaware. 
This family consisted of his English wife, and a son about seven years old. They 
had been accustomed, he said, to the society of the rich and gay, both in Phila- 
delphia and in Europe, having spent some time in Paris before their coming to 
this country. 

The information given by the loquacious driver, who seemed to think the village 
not a little honored in so distinguished an accession to its inhabitants, produced 
no favorable impression. The honest mynheers, however, were little inclined to 
be hasty in their judgment. They preferred consulting their wives, who waited 
with no little patience for the Sabbath morning, expecting then to have a full 
opportunity of criticizing their new neighbors. 

They were doomed to disappointment ; none of the family was at the place of 
meeting, although the practice of church-going was one so time-honored, that a 
journey of ten miles on foot to attend religious service was thought nothing of, and 
few, even of the most worldly-minded, ventured on an omission. The non-appear- 
ance of the strangers was a dark omen. The next day, however, the dames of the 
settlement had an opportunity of seeing Mrs. Winton — for so I shall call her, not 
choosing to give her real name — as she came out to purchase a few articles of 
kitchen furniture. Her style of dress was altogether different from theirs. In- 



THE FATE OF A FLIRT OF THE OLDEN TIME. 87 

stead of the hair pomatumed back from the forehead, she wore it in natural ring- 
lets ; instead of the short stuff petticoats in vogue among the Dutch dames, a long 
and flowing skirt set off to advantage a figure of remarkable grace. At the first 
glance, one could not but acknowledge her singular beauty. Her form was fault- 
less in symmetry, and her features exquisitely regular ; the complexion being of a 
clear brown, set off by luxuriant black hair, and a pair of brilliant dark eyes. The 
expression of these was not devoid of a certain fascination, though it had some- 
thing to excite distrust in the simple-minded fair ones who measured the claims 
of the stranger to admiration. They could not help thinking there was a want of 
innate modesty in the bold, restless wanderings of those eyes, bright as they were, 
and in the perfect self-possession the English woman showed in her somewhat 
haughty carriage. Her voice, too, though melodious, was not low in its tones, and 
her laugh was merry, and frequently heard. In short, she appeared, to the untu- 
tored judgment of the dames of the village, decidedly wanting in reserve, and the 
softness natural to youth in woman. While they shook their heads, and were shy 
of conversation with her, it was not a little wonderful to notice the different effect 
produced on their spouses. The honest Dutchmen surveyed the handsome stranger 
with undisguised admiration, evinced at first by a prolonged stare, and on after 
occasions by such rough courtesy as they found opportunity of showing, with 
alacrity offering to her any little service that neighbors might render. The women, 
on the other hand, became more and more suspicious of her outlandish gear and 
her bewitching smiles, lavished with such profusion upon all who came near her. 
Her charms, in their eyes, were so many sins, which they were inclined to see her 
expiate, before they relented so far as to extend toward her the civilities of neighbor- 
hood. The more their husbands praised her, the more they stood aloof; and, for 
weeks after the family had become settled, scarcely any communication of a 
friendly nature had taken place between her and any of the female population. 

Little, however, did the English woman appear to care for neglect on the part of 
those she evidently thought much inferior to herself. She had plenty of company, 
such as suited her taste, and no lack of agreeable employment, notwithstanding 
her persistence in a habit which shocked still more the prejudices of her worthy 
neighbors — of leaving her household labor to a servant. She made acquaintance 
with all who relished her lively conversation, and took much pleasure in exciting, 
by her eccentric manners, the astonishment of her long-queued admirers. She was 
always affable, and not only invited those she liked to visit her without ceremony, 
but called upon them for any extra service she required. 

It was on one of the brightest days in October that Mrs. Winton was riding with 
her son along a path leading through the forest up the Delaware. The road wound 
at the base of a mountain, bordering the river closely, and was flanked in some 
places by precipitous rocks, overgrown with shrubs, and shaded by overhanging 
trees. The wealth of foliage appeared to greater advantage, touched with the rich 
tints of autumn — 



88 EASTON". 

" With hues more gay 
Than when the flow'rets bloomed, the trees are drest ; 

How gorgeous are their draperies ! green and gold. 
Scarlet and crimson ! like the glittering vest 

Of Israel's priesthood, glorious to behold ! 

" See yonder towering hill, with forests clad, 
How bright its mantle of a thousand dyes ! 
Edged with a silver band, the stream, that glad, 
But silent, winds around its base." 

It can hardly be known if the romantic beauty of the scene, which presented itself 
by glimpses through the foliage, the bright calm river, the wooded hills and slopes 
beyond, and the village lying in the lap of the savage forest, called forth as much 
admiration from those who gazed, as it has since from spirits attuned to a vivid 
sense of the loveliness of nature. The sudden flight of a bird from the bushes 
startled the horse, and, dashing quickly to one side, he stood on the sheer edge of 
the precipice overlooking the water. The nest plunge might have been a fatal 
one, but that the bridle was instantly seized by the strong arm of a man who 
sprang from the concealment of the trees. Checking the frightened animal, he 
assisted the dame and her son to dismount, and then led the horse for them to less 
dangerous ground. In the friendly conversation that followed, the Englishwoman 
put forth all her powers of pleasing ; for the man was known already to her for 
one of the most respectable of the settlers, though he had never yet sought her 
society. His little service was rewarded by a cordial invitation, which was soon 
followed by a visit, to her house. 

To make a long story short, not many weeks had passed before this neighbor 
was an almost daily visitor ; and, to the surprise and concern of the whole village, 
his example was in time followed by many others of those who might have been called 
the gentry of Easton. It became evident that the handsome stranger was a 
coquette of the most unscrupulous sort ; that she was passionately fond of the 
admiration of the other sex, and was determined to exact the tribute due her 
charms, even from the sons of the wilderness. She flirted desperately with one after 
another, contriving to impress each with the idea that he was the happy individual 
especially favored by her smiles. Her manners and conversation showed less and 
less regard for the opinion of others, or the rules of propriety. The effect of such 
a course of conduct in a community so simple and old-fashioned in their customs, 
so utterly unused to any such broad defiance of censure, may be more easily ima- 
gined than described. How the men were flattered and intoxicated in their 
admiration for the beautiful siren, and their lessons in an art so new to them as 
gallantry ; how the women were amazed out of their propriety, can be conceived 
without the aid of philosophy. 

Things were bad enough as they were ; but when the time came for Mr. Winton 
to depart and take his place in the Assembly, the change was for the worse. His 



THE FATE OF A FLIRT OF THE OLDEN TIME. 89 

handsome wife was left, with only her son, in Easton for the winter. Her behavior 
was now more scandalous than ever, and soon a total avoidance of her by every other 
female in the place attested their indignation. The coquette evidently held them 
in great scorn, while she continued to receive, in a still more marked and offensive 
manner, the attentions of the husbands, whom, she boasted, she had taught they 
had hearts under their linsey-woolsey coats. Long walks and rides through the 
woods, attended always by some one who had owned the power of her beauty, set 
public opinion wholly at defiance ; and the company at her fireside, evening after 
evening, was well known to be not such as became a wife and mother to receive. 

Should this history of plain, unvarnished fact chance to meet the" eye of any 
fair trifier, who has been tempted to invite or welcome such homage, let her pause 
and remember that the wrath of the injured wives of Easton was but such as 
nature must rouse in the bosom of the virtuous in all ages and countries ; and 
that tragedies as deep as that to which it led have grown from the like cause, and 
may still do so at any period of civilization. 

The winter months passed, and spring came to set loose the streams, and fill 
the woods with tender bloom and verdure. But the anger of the justly irritated 
dames of Easton had gathered strength with time. Scarce one among the most 
conspicuous of the neighborhood but had particular reason to have their common 
enemy for the alienated affections and monopolized time of her husband, so faith- 
ful to his duties before this fatal enchantment. Complaints were made by one to 
another, and strange stories told, which, of course, lost nothing in their circulation 
from mouth to mouth. What wonder was it that the mysterious influence exer- 
cised by the strange woman should be attributed to witchcraft ? What wonder 
that she should be judged to hold intercourse with evil spirits, and to receive from 
them the power by which she subdued men to her sway ? 

Late in the afternoon of a beautiful day in the early part of June, two or three 
of the matrons of the village stationed themselves near the wood by which stood 
the house of Mrs. Winton. Not far from this was a small pond, where the boys 
amused themselves in fishing, or bathed during the heats of summer. The spot 
once occupied by this little body of water is now the central portion of the town, 
and covered with neat buildings of brick and stone. 

The women had come forth to watch ; nor was their vigilance long unrewarded. 
They saw Mrs. Winton, accompanied by one of her gallants, dressed with a care 
that showed his anxiety to please, walking slowly along the borders of the wood. 
The sun had set, and the gray shadows of twilight were creeping over the land- 
scape ; yet it was evidently not her intention to return home. As it grew darker, 
the two entered the wood, the female taking the arm of her companion, and pre- 
sently both disappeared. 

" There he goes I" exclaimed one of the women who watched, with fierce anger 
in her looks, for it was her husband she had seen. " I knew it ; I knew he spent 
every evening with her !" 



90 E ASTON". 

" Shall we follow them ?" asked the other. 

"No ! no ! let us go home quick !" was the answer. 

Such a scene as the night witnessed was never before enacted in that quiet vil- 
lage. At a late hour there was a meeting of many of the matrons in the house of 
one of their number. The curtains were closely drawn ; the light was so dim that 
the faces of those who whispered together could scarcely be discerned. There was 
something fearful in the assemblage, at such an unwonted time, of those orderly 
housewives, so unaccustomed ever to leave their homes after dusk. The circum- 
stance of their meeting alone betokened something uncommon in agitation. Still 
more did the silence, hushed and breathless at intervals, the eager, but suppressed 
whispering, the rapid gestures, the general air of determination mingled with cau- 
tion. It struck midnight ; they made signs one to another, and the light was 
extinguished. 

It was perhaps an hour or more after, when the same band of women left the 
house, and took their way, in profound silence, along the road leading out of the 
village. By a roundabout course, skirting the small body of water above men- 
tioned, they came to the border of the wood. Just then the waning moon rose 
above the forest tops, shedding a faint light over hill and stream. It could then 
be seen that the females all wore a kind of mask of black stuff. Their course was 
directed towards the Englishwoman's house, which they approached with stealthy 
and noiseless steps. 

A few moments of silence passed, after they had disappeared, and then a wild 
shriek was heard, and others fainter and fainter, like the voice of one in agony 
struggling to cry out, and stifled by powerful hands. The women rushed from the 
wood, dragging with them their helpless victim, whom they had gagged, so that 
she could not even supplicate their mercy. Another cry was presently heard — 
the wail of a terrified child. The little boy, roused from sleep by the screams of 
his mother, ran towards her captors, and throwing himself on his knees, begged 
for her in piteous accents and with streaming tears. 

"Take him away!" cried several together; and one of their number, snatching 
up the child, ran off with him at her utmost speed, and did not return. 

The others proceeded quickly to their mission of vengeance. Dragging the help- 
less dame to the pond, they rushed into it, heedless of risk to themselves, till they 
stood in deep water. Then each, in turn, seizing her enemy by the shoulders, 
plunged her in, head and all, crying, as she did so, " This is for my husband !" 
" And this for mine !" " This for mine !" was echoed, with the plunges, in quick 
succession, till the work of retribution was accomplished, and the party hurried 
to shore. 

Startled by a noise as of some one approaching, the disguised avengers fled, 
leaving their victim on the bank, and lost no time in hastening homeward. The 
dawn of day disclosed a dreadful catastrophe : Dame Winton was found dead 



THE FATE OF A FLIRT OF THE OLDEN TIME. 91 

beside the water. There was evidence enough that she had perished, not by acci- 
dent, but violence. "Who could have done the deed ? 

The occurrence caused great commotion in Easton, as it was but natural it should ; 
but it was never discovered with certainty who were the perpetrators of the mur- 
der. Suspicion fell on several ; but they were prudent enough to keep silence, and 
nothing could be proved against them. Perhaps the more prominent among the 
men, who should have taken upon themselves the investigation of the affair, had 
their own reasons for passing it over rather slightly. It was beyond doubt, too, 
that actual murder had not been designed by the actors in the tragedy ; but simply 
the punishment assigned to witchcraft by popular usage. So the matter was not 
long agitated, though it was for many years a subject of conversation among those 
who had no interest in hushing it up ; and the story served as a warning to give 
jtoint to the lessons of careful mothers. 

It was for a long time believed that the ghost of the unfortunate Englishwoman 
haunted the spot where she had died. Nor did the belief cease to prevail long 
after the pond was drained, and the wood felled, and the space built over. A stable 
belonging to a gentleman with whom I am acquainted stands near the place. I 
have heard him relate how one of his servants, who had never heard the story had 
rushed in one night, much alarmed, to say that he had seen a female figure, in 
old-fashioned cap and white gown, standing at the door of the stable. Another 
friend, who resides near, was told by his domestic that a strange woman had stood 
at the back gate, who had suddenly disappeared when asked who she was. Thus 
there seems ground enough to excuse the belief, even now prevalent among the 
common people in Easton, that the spirit still walks at night about that portion of 
the town. 

In 1782, Easton had increased considerably, and contained eighty- 
five houses and about 500 inhabitants ; among these were families 
whose descendants are found in the present borough. We have a 
complete list of the taxables, with their trades and occupations, for 
1782, which we would be pleased to insert did our space permit. 

Jacob Able at that time was the owner of the ferry, and also 
tavernkeeper. The valuation of the ferry property is stated at 
£555, and appears to have been the most productive property in 
the town. The time of establishing the ferry was in 1789, by David 
Martin, about eleven or twelve years before Easton was laid out. 
Tn 1755 it passed into the hands of Nathaniel Vernon, in 1762 to 
Daniel Brodhead, afterwards to Lewis Gordon, and finally to Jacob 
Able, whose descendants still retain it. 

David Berringer, it is supposed, was the first tanner in Easton. 



92 EASTON. 

In 1763, Mr. Berringer purchased the house built by John Okely 
for the Moravians (now part of the Washington Hotel); Berringer, 
soon after the purchase, went to see the Kev. H. Muhlenberg, which 
occasioned the following remarks in that clergyman's reports to 
Halle, in Germany (p. 125, &c.) : " May 13, 1763. A man from 
Baston visited me, who informed me that the Lutheran congrega- 
tion of that place had bought a large house for £400 ($1066), which 
they intend to use for a church and parsonage, and they earnestly 
entreated the ministerium to obtain a faithful pastor for them." 
There is no doubt but that the second story had been used as a 
place of worship. Charles E. Weygandt, Esq., informed the writer 
that he heard his mother say that she had frequently attended 
religious meetings in the second story of that house. 

Peter Kichline, for many years was one of the most prominent 
persons in the county. As early as 1755, he rented "his large 
room in his new house, up one pair of stairs," to the commissioners 
for holding courts, elections, and all other public business. This 
house he built in 1754. In 1759 he was elected one of the com- 
missioners, member of Assembly in 1774, sheriff in 1762, justice of 
the peace, &c. In 1762 he erected a grist and saw-mill on the 
Bushkill Creek, opposite Mount Jefferson* In 1782 Mr. Kichline 
was still living; the mill property he had then given over to his 
son Andrew. Mr. Kichline's name appears on nearly every page 
of the county's early history. During the Indian war of 1763-4, 
he is well spoken of by the Moravians for his humane conduct 
to the savages. In the war of the Revolution he became a colonel 
of the militia, and was a true patriot and an honest citizen. 

Adam Yohe, one of the early inhabitants of Easton, was well 
known as a tavernkeeper in 1755 — his son Adam had taken his 

* This spot had a name given to it by Dr. Thomas Graeme, a Philadelphian, who 
frequently visited Easton, in the neighborhood of which he owned several large 
tracts of land. The place he named "Bellvue." Mrs. Ferguson, through whose 
agency the government of Great Britain offered 10,000 guineas to Joseph Reed, 
President of the Supreme Executive Council, was a daughter of Doctor Graeme. 



WAGONER — TRAILL— SHOUSE — CLEMENS. 93 

place at the bar before 1782. Governor Hamilton lodged at Mr. 
Yohe's house in 1758, at the treaty with the Indians in that year. 

David and Frederick "Wagoner* are also mentioned in 1782. 
David had already erected his mill, valued at £1348 ; he was the 
grandfather of Jacob and David D. Wagoner, the latter of whom 
is the President of the Easton Bank, and. was in 1829 to 1834 
member of Congress. 

Eobert Traill was the second or third resident lawyer in Easton. 
Of Mr. Traill it can be said that, in every respect, he for many 
years was everything to everybody. Any inhabitant getting into 
difficulty, was told to go to Mr. Traill ; he will tell you what to do ! 
If any writings were to be drawn correctly — go to Mr. Traill. If 
any secretary or clerk was wanting at any public meeting, Mr. 
Traill was called upon to officiate. In 1776-7-8, he was secretary 
to the committee of safety ; at another time member of assembly ; 
in 1782 sheriff, clerk of courts, &c. Mr. Traill was highly esteemed 
by all who knew him. 

The names of Adam Shouse and Frederick Shouse are also 
found in the list of 1763. The courts were held in Conrad Shouse's 
house in 1762, where he rented a room to the commissioners for that 
purpose at £4 or $10 67 per year, including firewood and candles. 

John Clemens was a barber, the only one of this occupation in 
the county. The valuation of Mr. Clemens' trade is the lowest on 
the list, from which we must conclude that it was not very pro- 
fitable; most persons shaved themselves, and as to cutting of hair, 
if that was part of his calling, that also was a poor business, as all 
the men wore the queues then ; the fashion of cropping the hair 
was introduced about 1800. A paper written by John Arnclt, Esq., 
of that date, came into the possession of the writer, in which he 
deprecates the new fashion of cutting off this adornment of the 
male sex. Mr. Arndt, a short time previous, had been removed 
by Governor McKean from his office of recorder of deeds, &c. ; he 

* The Wagoners' ancestors came to America in 1734, and settled near the Trapp 
in Montgomery County. Rev. Mr. Spangenberg, the Moravian clergyman in 1739, 
visited his old acquaintance Mr. Weigener. 



94 E ASTON". 

felt very sore on this point, and ascribing the removal to several 
gentlemen in Easton, who had lately commenced wearing the hair 
" a la mode," says, that the legislature should pass a law that every 
felon who had served out his time in the penitentiary, before send- 
ing him abroad into society, should have his hair cropped, as a 
mark to be known by, like unto the mark set upon Cain for killing 
his brother Abel. 

Henry and John Young resided in Easton as early as 1760 ; the 
former was a locksmith, the latter an armorer or gun maker. 

The Snyders were also early residents in Easton. The names of 
Herman Snyder, Henry Snyder, and widow Snyder, appear in 
1762. Herman was a tanner, and Henry a shoemaker. Herman 
was elected in 1767 a county commissioner. During the years 
1762 and 1763, Nicholas Snyder was clerk to the commissioners, 
and Peter Snyder in 1765 and 6 is found in the same office. 

The Horns, Stephen and John, became residents in Easton 
before 1755. Stephen was a mason and John a carpenter; they 
assisted at the building of the jail in 1753, and subscribed one 
week's work, each, to the building of the school-house in 1755. 
Abraham Horn, joiner, is mentioned in 1782. 

George Taylor, the representative in Congress from Northamp- 
ton County in 1776, and one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, was the son of Nathaniel Taylor, of Allen town- 
ship. He arrived in America about 1730 to 1735 with his parents 
from the North of Ireland; George was then about fifteen years old. 
A few years afterwards, he became a clerk with Mr. Savage at the 
Durham iron works, whose widow he married when he was twenty- 
three years old. In 1760, he became possessed of a farm of 331 acres 
of land in Allen township, at the river Lehigh, including within its 
limits the present borough of Catasauqua, in Lehigh County. This 
tract of land is valued in the assessment, in 1770, at <£416, includ- 
ing six horses, eight cows, and three negroes. The county tax was 
thirty-seven shillings and two pence ($4 96), 130 acres cleared, and 
200 acres wood land, and was the most valuable farm in that 
township. The whole tract contained originally 500 acres, 200 



ME. TAYLOE. 95 

acres of which John Taylor (the brother of George), received as 
his portion, being a part of a large tract purchased by a Mr. 
Page from the Proprietaries. On his election as a member of the 
Assembly, in 1764, Mr. Taylor removed to Easton, where he re- 
mained until 1769. In 1774 he rented Durham furnace and forge, 
from Joseph Galloway, Esq., for a term of five years. In 1777, Mr. 
Galloway — fearing the struggle by the colonies, in throwing off the 
British yoke, would be unsuccessful — left the cause he had so ardently 
embraced in former years, and threw himself into the arms of his 
country's enemies. He afterwards escaped to England, where he 
remained until his death. The estates of Galloway were confiscated. 
The commissioner of forfeited estates likewise attached the per- 
sonal estate at the iron works, with the intention of selling it. In 
this exigenoy, Mr. Taylor petitioned the Executive Council, stating 
the fact that this personal property, consisting of iron ore, wood, 
&c, belonged to himself, and not to Galloway. The representation 
was successful, and yet Mr. Taylor lost thousands of dollars by the 
detention at the works. 

In March, 1776, he sold his farm in Allen Township to Mr. Be- 
nezet, of Philadelphia, for £1800 (or $4800), by whom it was sold 
to David Deshler. Mr. Taylor was much in the confidence of the 
people of Northampton County ; upon his removal to Easton, in 
1764, he was commissioned a justice of the peace, and during many 
years generally presided at the courts. And as one of the trustees 
for the building of the court-house, to which trust he had been 
appointed by act of Assembly in 1763, all the moneys requisite 
for that building passed through his hands. During five suc- 
cessive years he was elected a member of Assembly. On the 
21st September, 1774, George Taylor, Peter Kichline, and Henry 
Kocken, Esqs., were nominated judges of the election for a com- 
mittee of observation and inspection, conformable to the eleventh 
article of the association of the Continental Congress, and recom- 
mended by the General Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania. 
George Taylor was one of the general committee, and subsequently 
one of the six of the standing committee. 



"96 E ASTON'. 

On January 7, 1775, he was chosen one of the persons to repre- 
sent the county in the provincial convention, with Lewis Gordon, 
Peter Kichline, Jacob Arndt, and John Okely. 

On the 15th July, 1776, he was elected by the provincial con- 
vention (which had not only entered upon the task of forming the 
Constitution, but assumed also the legislative power of the State), 
a delegate to Congress, and, as such, signed the, Declaration of 
Independence on this day. 

On the 30th January, 1777, George Taylor and George Walton 
were appointed by Congress, " to be present and preside at the 
Indian Treaty to be holden at Easton ;" " they met," says the re- 
port, "in the German Reformed Church of Easton, and after 
the shaking of hands and drinking rum, during which time the 
organ was played," proceeded to business, &c. 

Mr. Taylor, in 1779, resided in New Jersey, at the forge of Hugh 
Hughes, in Greenwich township, Sussex County. Mrs. Taylor, his 
wife, died about 1768. 

In 1780, Taylor is found again residing in the house erected by 
Mr. Parsons, in Easton, wherein he died on 25th February, 1781. 

He had had two children, one a son named James, was a lawyer, 
in 1765 to 1768; his name is on the appearance docket very fre- 
quently. James had been married to Elizabeth, the daughter of 
Lewis Gordon; he died in 1772, aged twenty-nine years, leaving 
a wife and five children; some of the descendants reside in South 
Carolina at the present time. 

Yery little is known of George Taylor. He left a will, appoint- 
ing Robert Traill and Robert Levers as executors. An inventory 
of his effects was taken, from which it appears that he had a very 
valuable library of standard works, and considerable plate and 
good clothing, all indicating a man of refined habits. 

The plate was sold by sheriff Ealer, for £37 2s. lie?., on account of 
an execution in favor of Leonhard Kessler (a butcher and distiller 
in Williams Township). One of his slaves was sold or exchanged 
for 280 bushels of wheat ; the other being a cripple, was sold at 
£15. His effects were insufficient to pay the debts of his estate. 




^ 



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fayusi^Vh / / 



/^r^^^^^y, 



LIST OF SLAVE OWNERS. 97 

A natural daughter was living in Easton, in 1853, who informed 
the writer that he had spent a very considerable fortune in the sup- 
port of the Kevolutionary War. He was buried in the Lutheran 
graveyard in Easton. 

A beautiful Italian marble monument has been erected to his 
memory in the Easton Cemetery. By an act of Assembly, passed 
March 1, 1780, slavery was abolished in the State of Pennsylvania. 
One of the sections of this act made it obligatory upon the owners 
of the slaves to register them in the office of the clerk of the Ses- 
sions Court in each county. 

George Taylor having omitted to register his two slaves at the 
proper time, excuses himself for his negligence in the following 
letter to the clerk, Eobert Levers. 

Easton, Penna., 23d October, 1780. 

Dear Sir : It is but a few days ago that I ever heard of an act of Assembly for 

recording of negroes, and by mere accident might have been innocently guilty of 

the breach of a law, before I knew there was such a law in being. I have two 

negro boys, one of which is the bearer of this, named Tom ; the other is called 

Sam, both about the same age — I believe thirty years ; you will please to make 

the proper entries of them, and the fees shall be thankfully paid, the first time I 

have the pleasure of seeing you. 

I am, with great truth, dear sir, 

Your most humble servant, 

GEORGE TAYLOR. 
To Robert Levers, Esq., Easton. 

The following is a list of those who owned slaves in the old 
county of Northampton, at the time the act was passed : — 

No, of No. of 

slaves. slaves. 

Henry Barnet, Easton 1 William McNair, Allen Township, 1 

Meyer Hart, 1 John Ralston, " . 1 

Michael Hart, " 2 Derrick Lowe, Mt. Bethel Township, 2 

Peter Kichline, " 2 Thomas Ruckman, " 3 

Widow Lyon, " 1 Joseph Jones, Bethlehem, 2 

David Deshler, Allentown, 2 John Okely, " 1 

Jacob Arndt, Forks Township, 2 Jacob Van Vleck, " 2 

William Raub, " 1 George Taylor, Easton, 2 

Peter Seip, " 1 Nicholas Depui, Lower Smithfield, 2 

7 



98 E ASTON. 



No. of No. of 

slaves 



William Smith, Lower SmitMeld, 2 Nich. Young, Hamilton Township 1 

Henry Shoemaker, " 2 Lawrence Kunkle, " 1 

Jacob Stroud, " 3 Theophilus Shannon, Easton, 1 

Benjamin Van Campen, " 2 John Deiss, Macungie, 1 

James Logan, " 1 Burgkard Minder, 1 

John Van Campen, " 1 James Schoonover, L. Smithfield, 1 

Joseph Martin, Mt. Bethel, 1 Jacob Van Auken, 1 

Walter Berry, Hamilton Township, 1 Levi Barnet, Easton, 1 

The Indian wars closed in 1764. The attention of the British 
ministry, called by the events of that war to the growing wealth 
of the colonies, were tempted to look to that wealth as an object 
of taxation, for the double purpose of replenishing the exhausted 
coffers of the mother country, and of adding to her pampered 
monopolies the exclusive trade and manufacture for colonial con- 
sumption. 

This involved the right of the propriety of taxing a people 
without their consent — the great question of the American Revo- 
lution. The odious stamp act was passed on the 22d March, 1764. 
On the arrival of the stamps from England at Philadelphia in Octo- 
ber 1765, the vessels hoisted their colors at half mast; bells were 
muffled, and thousands of citizens assembled in a state of great 
excitement. Mr. Hughes, of the stamp office, was called on to 
resign his commission ; but he only agreed for the present not to 
perform the duties of his office. The opposition to the stamp act 
was so great that it was repealed on the 18th March, 1769, but the 
ri°ht of taxation by Parliament was reaffirmed. In 1773, a new 
era commenced in the American Revolution. The perverse deter- 
mination of Parliament to tax the colonies was again manifested 
(in 1769, the taxes which had been laid on goods imported into 
America were all repealed except this tax — three pence per pound 
on tea). So long as the Americans refrained from all importation 
of tea, Great Britain might solace herself with the ideal right of 
taxation without danger of provoking collision in the colonies. 
But to test the right, Parliament encouraged the East India Com- 



EFFECT PRODUCED BY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 99 

pany to make a forced exportation of tea to each of the principal 
ports in the colonies. This insidious attempt upon their liberties 
aroused the indignation of the colonies from New Hampshire to 
Georgia. At Boston the tea was thrown overboard by the people. 
At Philadelphia it was not lauded. The indignation of Great 
Britain poured itself out exclusively upon Boston, where the oppo- 
sition had been the most violent. That port was closed. The first 
Congress met in September, 1774. This Congress recommended 
sympathy and aid to the people of Boston, and approved of their 
resistance to the oppressive port bill. The year 1774 had closed 
with loud expressions of constitutional loyalty to Great Britain. 
The spring of 1775 opened with the roar of revolutionary cannon. 
The battle of Lexington was fought on the 19th April, and on the 
17th of June the battle of Bunker Hill took place. George 
"Washington was placed at the head of the army. Pennsylvania 
took measures to raise the four thousand three hundred men ap- 
portioned to the province, and made appropriations for their sup- 
port. Washington immediately proceeded to Boston with the 
troops raised, and invested that city. At this time a company was 
formed at Easton, consisting of sixty-seven men, including the 
officers. These men elected Alexander Miller, of Mount Bethel, 
as their captain, and James and Charles Craig as lieutenants, each 
man receiving £3 ($8) bounty for enlisting.* 

The independence of the United States being declared on the 
4th July, 1776, the news of this event became immediately known 
at Easton, and on the 8th July was hailed by the citizens of this 
town and surrounding country by a public demonstration. Cap- 
tain Abraham Labar, with his company, paraded through the 
streets with drums beating and colors flying, and was followed and 
joined by the citizens " en masse." They met in the court-house, 
where the Declaration of Independence was read by Bobert 
Levers.f 

* MSS. of Committee of Safety, Easton Library Company. 

+ Henry Miller's German newspaper of July 10, 1776. Hist. Soc. Arch. 



100 EASTON, 

New York being in danger of falling into the bands of the 
British, who had been compelled to leave Boston,* ten thousand 
men were ordered to be raised for its relief, called the "flying 
camp." The quota of Northampton County was three hundred 
and forty-six. In the beginning of August, 1776, these men joined 
"Washington's army on Long Island opposite New York, near 
Brooklyn. The Americans were fifteen thousand strong under 
the command of Major-General Sullivan ; the British army num- 
bered twenty-three thousand. A battle occurred on the 27th 
August, in which the Americans were beaten and forced to retreat, 
which they did in a masterly manner on the 29th August. The 
American loss in killed was upwards of one thousand men. One 
of the companies from Northampton County was commanded by 
Captain John Arndt, of Forks Township. Mr. Arndt lost many 
of his men, and he himself was severely wounded, and Colonel 
Peter Kichline was with Mr. Arndt taken prisoner, &c. 

The following is the muster roll of the company of Captain John 
Arndt, of Colonel Baxter's battalion of Northampton County, Pa. 7 
of the "Flying Camp."f 

* After the evacuation of Boston by the British under Howe, in March, 1776, 
Washington, apprehending that the city of New York would be the next point of 
attack, moved thither with the main part of his army. " The troops already here. 
Congress had determined to reinforce by thirteen thousand eight hundred militia, 
from New England, New York, and New Jersey, while ten thousand more from 
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, were to form a ' flying camp' to cover and 
protect the neighboring State of New Jersey." — BartoletVs History of U. S. 

f Another company was raised in Lehigh County. " One hundred and twenty 
recruits from Allentown and vicinity passed through (Bethlehem) on their way to 
the 'flying camp' in the Jerseys, to which our county has been called on to con- 
tribute three hundred and forty-six men. Every volunteer is entitled to a bounty 
of three pounds." — Bethlehem Souvenir, p. 166, 



CAPTAIN JOHN ARNDT S COMPANY. 



101 



Captain — John Arndt.f 
1st Lieut. — Joseph Martin, } 



Robert Scott,f 
Andrew Herster,§ 
Philip Arndt,t 
Andrew Keifer,§ 

1 Daniel Lewis, f 

2 Benjamin Depue,} 

3 Thomas Sybert, 

4 John Wolf,} 

5 Christian Roth,} 

6' James Hindshaw,} 

7 John Middagh,f 

8 Alex. Sylliinan,! 

9 Jacob Diiford,§ 

10 Jacob McFarran,f 

11 Robert Lyle,! 

12 John Ross,} 

13 Richard Overfield,§ 

14 Jacob Miller,f 

15 Martin Derr,§ 

16 Henry Siegel, 

17 Christian Stout,f 

18 Jacob Andrew,} 

19 Joseph Stout,§ 

20 Jacob Weidknecht,§ 

21 Henry Onangst,! 

22 George Fry,§ 

23 John Smith, 

24 Jost Dornblaser, 

25 John Bush,} 

28 Maeheas Steininger,§ 

27 Jacob Wagner,f 

28 Con'd Bittenbender,} 

29 Henry Bush, Sr.,§ 



MUSTER ROLL. 




2c? Lieut.- 


— Peter Kichline.! 


n.} 3c? Lieut.- 


—Isaac Shimer.} 


Corporals. 


Drummer. 


Jacob Kichline,! 


John Arndt.} 


George Edelman, 




Peter Richter,! 


Fifer. 


Elijah Crawford.! 


Henry Allshouse} 


Privates. 




30 Paul Reaser,} 


59 Peter Lehr,§ 


31 John Shurtz,} 


60 M. Deal,} 


32 Lawrence Erb,§ 


61 Philip Bosh,§ 


33 Isaac Berlin,} 


62 Peter Frees, § 


34 Adam Yohe,! 


63 Henry Wolf, Sr.,} 


35 Frederick Rieger,} 


64 Isaac Shoemaker,! 


36 J. McCracken,! 


65 Dan'l Sailor,! 


37 James Farrel,! 


66 Fred'k Wagner, | 


38 Jacob Engler}, 


67 Sam'l Curry,} 


39 Geo. Ryman, 


68 Henry Fretz,} 


40 Conrad Smith,! 


69 Henry Bosh, Jr.,} 


41 Geo. Essigh,! 


70 Henry Strauss,} 


42 Val'n Yent,! 


71 Isaac Koon,} 


43 Philip Reeser, 


72 Chr. Harpel,} 


44 Lewis Collins,} 


73 Joseph Miner,} 


45 Joseph Keller,} 


74 Bernh'd Miller, § 


46 Peter Byer,§ 


75 John Falstich, 


47 Conrad Metz, 


76 Henry Weidknecht.} 


48 Peter Kern,§ 


77 Ad. Weidknecht,} 


49 Henry Fatzinger,! 


78 J. Fraunfelter,} 


50 John Kessler,! 


79 John Yent,! 


51 Geo. Shibly, 


80 Geo. Eddinger,} 


52 M. Kress,! 


81 Ab. Peter, § 


53 M. Kailor,! 


82 Adam Bortz,} 


54 Wm. Warrand,} 


83 Jacob Kreider,} 


55 F. Wilhelm,} 


84 Christ'n Harpel,} 2d. 


56 A. Frutchy,§ 


85 Jos'h Chass,} 


57 Henry Wolf, Jr.,! 


86 John Harpel,§ 


58 A. Everts, 


87 James Symonton.y 



} Rallied next day at Elizabethtown. (33 men.) 
} Killed or taken prisoner at Fort Washington. 
§ Killed or taken prisoner at Long Island. 



102 EASTOK 

Captain John Arndt, after his release from confinement, returned 
to Easton, in September, 1780, and was appointed a commissary 
with David Deshler for the supplying the sick and disabled troops 
with the necessaries of life. The services of John Arndt, during 
the ^Revolution, were mentioned in a publication in 1799, and says, 
" It is well known that John Arndt turned out in 1776, a time 
which tried men's souls, and assisted in toil and danger, against 
the British foe, got wounded and crippled, and declined soliciting 
a pension, to which he was by law entitled, accepted of an office in 
this county, in the conduct of which he is known to have been the 
true friend of the widow and orphan. In 1777, he was appointed 
register of wills, recorder of deeds, &c, and clerk of the Orphan's 
Court," and was the most efficient member of the Committee of 
Safety. In 1783, he was elected a representative in the council of 
the censors, to propose amendments to the Constitution of Penn- 
sylvania. In 1783, Dickinson College, at Carlisle, was incorporated,, 
of which Mr. Arndt was appointed one of the trustees. He was 
chosen one of the electors of President and Vice-President of 
the United States, and cheerfully gave his vote to the illustrious 
"Washington.* During the war, he advanced money out of his 
own private funds, towards the recruiting service, thus practically 
illustrating his devotedness to the cause. The exigencies of the 
States were then so great, that actions testing the patriotism of the 
citizens favorable to liberty were called for continually. Their 
lives and fortunes were to be risked, and John Arndt was not found 
wanting. The following is a letter from Joseph Eeed, President 
of the Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, to Mr. 
Arndt. 

In Council, Phila., April 2d, 1781. 
Sir : Your favor of the 25tli ult. has been received, and we are much concerned 
that the treasurer of the county is unable to answer the draft, and the more, as it 
is not in my power to send you money. The State treasury has not ten pounds 
in the treasury. We hope you will have patience to hear with some difficulties, 
and we shall do everything in our power to relieve you. 

Yours, JOSEPH REED, President. 

* Mr. Arndt, in 1796, was a candidate for Congress, hut was defeated by ninety 

votes. 



CAPTAIN JACOB ARNDT. 103 

During the insurrection in 1799, by John Freas, Jarret, Haaney, 
and others, his utmost exertions were used to preserve law and 
order. As a mineralogist and botanist, he held no mean rank. His 
correspondence with Eev. Mr. Gross, and other clergymen, show 
that he was a pious man. In 1796, a law was passed, rendering it 
necessary that the county records should all be at the county town, 
which occasioned his removal from his mills to Easton. On the 
election of Governor McKean, he was removed from office, after 
which he devoted his life to mercantile pursuits until his decease, 
in 1814. 

Jacob Arndt, the father of John Arndt, was born in Bucks 
County; his father's name was Bernhard Arndt. During the In- 
dian wars, he was in active service. In 1755, as captain, at Fort 
Allec, near Mauch Chunk, and in 1758, major of the troops at Fort 
Augusta. His reports to the governors are found in the Penna. 
Archives, and other publications of transactions, during that war. 
In 1760, Mr. Arndt purchased a mill property, about three miles 
above Easton, on the Bushkill Creek, from John Jones, and soon 
afterwards removed to the mill. Easton was a very diminutive 
town, when Mr. Arndt first visited it, in 1760. He had engaged 
to meet Mr. Jones in Easton, to receive the deeds for the mill pro- 
perty ; when for that purpose he came to Easton, " he hitched his 
horse to one of the forest trees in the square, and attended to his 
business ; it did not appear to him as much of a place." 

In 1763, when the Pontiac Indian war commenced, he was elected 
the captain of a company by his neighbors, who associated them- 
selves together for the purpose of protecting themselves against 
the savages, under the following agreement : — 

"We, the subscribers, as undersigned, do hereby jointly and severally agree 
that Jacob Arndt shall be our captain for three months, from the date of these 
presents, and be always ready to obey him, when he sees occasion to call us toge- 
ther, in pursuing the Indians, or helping any of us, that shall happen to be in 
distress by the Indians. Each person to find arms, powder, and lead, at our own 
cost, and have no pay, but each person to find himself in all necessaries ; to which 
article, covenant, and agreement, we bind ourselves in the penal sum of five 
pounds, lawful money of Pennsylvania, for the use of the company, to be laid out 



104 E ASTON. 

for arms and ammunition, unless the person so refusing to obey, shall have a law- 
ful reason. 

"Given under our hands and seal 13th October, 1763." 

Signed by Jacob Arndt, Peter Seip, Michael Lawall, Adam Hay, Paul Able, and 
thirty-four others. 

Mr. Arndt was elected, with George Taylor, Peter Kichline, 
John Okely, and Lewis Gordon, to the Convention for forming a 
Constitution of the State, in 1774. 

In 1776, he was a member of the Executive Council of Penna. 

In 1796, he removed to Easton from the mill; a copy of a letter 
from John Arndt to Dr. Gross, speaks of him, in 1803 : " Kespect- 
ing his health, it is tolerable for his age ; but time has and continues 
to press bodily infirmities heavily upon him. His eyesight is 
almost gone, his feet begin to get weak, and cannot for a long time 
bear the weight of his body ; but his appetite is good, and for to 
live happy and contented, depends upon himself;" he died in 1805. 

Companies, such as mentioned above, were afterwards formed 
upon the same plan in various parts of the county; in Easton, 
Lewis Gordon became the captain, on 8th December, 1763, having 
twenty-three rank and file. This was the whole military force of 
Easton at that time. {Penna. Archives, vol. iv. p. 143.) 

The defeat on Long Island, at the close of 1776, was a gloomy 
period of the Eevolutionary War. General Washington, with the 
remains of an army, constantly diminishing by desertion, and the 
expiration of the terms of enlistment, had retreated through New 
Jersey, before the British army under Howe and Cornwallis, and 
crossed into Pennsylvania. The enemy posted themselves along 
the Jersey side of the Delaware, waiting for the ice to form a bridge 
by which they might reach Philadelphia, while the Americans 
guarded the ferries from New Hope to Bristol. At this time, the 
militia from the eastern part of Pennsylvania flocked to Washing- 
ton's standard in considerable numbers. 

The following letter (in possession of Jno. M. Siegfried, Esq., of 
Easton) from Washington, is the call for troops from Northampton 
County. 



REQUISITION FOR MILITIA. 105 

Head-Quakteks, Bucks Co., Dec. 22d, 1776. 
To Colonel John Siegfried — 

Sib : The Council of Safety of this State, by their resolves of the 17th instant, 
empowered me to call out the militia of Northampton County to the assistance of 
the Continental army under my command, that, by our joint endeavors, we may 
put a stop to the progress of the enemy, who are making preparations to advance 
to Philadelphia, as soon as they cross the Delaware, either by boats, or on the ice. 
As I am unacquainted with names of the colonels of your militia, I have taken 
the liberty to inclose you six letters, in which you will please to insert the names 
of the proper officers, and send them immediately to them, by persons in whom 
you can confide for their delivery. 

If there are not as many colonels as letters, you may destroy the balance not 
wanted. 

I most earnestly entreat those who are so far lost to a love of their country, as 
to refuse to lend a hand to its support at this critical time, they may depend upon 
being treated as their baseness and want of public spirit will most justly deserve. 
I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

A number of companies of the militia of the county, upon this 
requisition, immediately marched, and were engaged in the battles 
of Trenton, Germantown, and Brandywine. In a diary left by 
Col. Siegfried, he states that he was in those battles, as also at Red 
Bank and Monmouth. 

Soon after the battle of .Germantown, Col. Siegfried received the 
following letter from Washington. The destitute condition of the 
army rendered it necessary that stringent measures be taken to 
supply the soldiers with clothing, &c. 

Sm : By virtue of the power and authority given to me by the honorable Con- 
gress, I hereby request and authorize you to appoint such and so many persons as 
you shall see fit, to collect, for the use of the Continental army, all such blankets, 
shoes, stockings, and other articles of clothing, as can possibly be spared from the 
inhabitants in your section of country, giving receipts therefor, to be paid by the 
clothier-general. Obtaining these things from the Quakers, and disaffected inha- 
bitants is recommended, but at all events to get them. 

Given under my hand and seal, Philadelphia County, 6th of October, 1777. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, 
To Col. John Siegfried. 



106 E ASTON. 

The following account, from the Bethlehem Souvenir, p. 183, 
(published 1857), will show that the order was carried out in that 
town, in October, 1777. 

" In this month, orders were issued for the collection of clothing for the soldiers 
of the army. General Woodward generously protected us from lawless pillage, 
not unfrequently resorted to in the execution of these orders, and made the con- 
tribution from our side optional. 

" We made several collections of blankets for the destitute soldiers ; also shoes, 
stockings, and breeches, for the convalescent in the hospital, many of whom had 
come here attired in rags, swarming with vermin, while others had, during their 
stay, been deprived of their all by their comrades." (What authority General 
Woodward had to make the contribution optional, is not said. The order of 
General Washington is imperative. This extract from a diary, shows the feelings 
of the Moravian clergy to the cause of freedom. In this instance, they made a 
virtue of the necessity of the case.) 

It is really most interesting and instructive to every intelligent 
mind, to be transported back to the time of the Eevolationary 
struggle, and to observe the courage, fortitude, and self-denial of 
our forefathers, amidst so many surrounding dangers, difficulties 
and privations — their unconquerable love of freedom — the resist- 
ance they manifested to tyranny in all its shapes, and the final 
success of their efforts to preserve the freedom and independence 
of their country. 

During the year 1777, an act was passed called the test act, 
under which it became necessary that every man should take an 
oath of allegiance to the government of the United States ; such as 
signed the test oath were called the " associators" and such as did 
not sign or take the oath before a magistrate were called non- 
associators. To the honor of the citizens of Northampton County, 
we find the names of 4821 persons who had taken this test oath 
(the most of them in the latter part of 1777, and a number in 
1778). Some few may have had scruples of conscience about 
taking this oath of adherence. Only fifty-nine persons appear in 
the records of the proceedings of the Committee of Safety* for the 

* There is a MS. of the proceedings of the Committee of Safety for Northamp- 
ton County of 1774 — 1778 (containing about sixty pages), in the keeping of the 



EIGHT MONTHS TAX. 107 

county, who, in committing overt acts against the test law, were 
arraigned before that tribunal. These persons, upon their sub- 
mission to the test act, escaped punishment, and in no case were 
proceedings instituted except the holding of some few to bail for a 
time. Sixty-nine Moravians and some Mennonists professed to have 
religious scruples about taking an oath under any circumstances, 
and this plea was admitted by government, but they were obliged 
to pay a double tax. Previous to the passage of the law imposing 
this double tax, there had been " an ordinance" passed on the 14th 
September, 1776, subjecting all "non-associators" to pay the sum 
of three pounds and ten shillings ($9 38), entitled "An ordinance 
rendering the burden of associators and non-associators in defence 
of this State as nearly equal as may be." 

"By virtue of this ordinance, the following commissioners and assessors of 
Northampton County met at Easton on the 14th day of October, A. D. 1776, viz : 
Peter Burkhalter, Jacob Opp, and Henry Lawall, commissioners ; and Peter Kohler, 
Abraham Arndt, Benjamin Depue, Peter Beisal, and John Van Camp, assessors ; 
and appointed the following persons to make return of the ' non-associators' by 
the second Monday of November next, agreeably to the said ordinance," viz : — 
Easton — John Ball, Bethlehem — Michael Lawall, 

Williams — Leonhard Raub, Lower Saucon — Peter Lynn, 

Forks — Philip Odenwelder, Jr., Upper Saucon — Abraham Snyder, 

&c. &c, in all the twenty-six townships of the county. The requirements of the 
ordinance were performed, and the tax paid before the 4th January, 1777. 

During the year 1781, a United States tax, called the "eight 
months tax" (from its being divided into monthly instalments), was 
raised, of £93,522 10s., which at the then rate of depreciation of 
sixty for one was equal to £1558 15s. The double tax of the 
assessment amounted to £5803 5s., or £96 16s. Of this amount, 
£81 18s. was assessed in townships now in Lehigh County, leaving 
only £14 18s. to be paid by inhabitants now forming Northampton 
County, from which we must infer that " non-associators" were few 
in the " Forks." In some townships there was not one. 

Library Co. of Easton, from which extracts have been made by the writer. In 
general it would be uninteresting to the reader, and therefore here omitted. The 
paper was written by Robert Traill, who acted as their secretary. 



108 E ASTON. 

The advantages the colonies had derived from a paper currency 
under the British government, suggested to Congress, in 1775, the 
idea of issuing bills for the purpose of carrying on the war — and 
this, perhaps, was their only expedient. They could not raise 
money by taxation, and it could not be borrowed. The first emis- 
sions had no other effect upon the medium of commerce than to 
drive the specie from circulation. But when the paper substituted 
for specie had, by repeated emissions, augmented the sum in circu- 
lation much beyond the usual quantity of specie, the bills began 
to lose their value. The depreciation continued in proportion to 
the sums emitted, until one hundred paper dollars were hardly an 
equivalent for one Spanish milled dollar. With this depreciated 
paper was the army paid; and from 1775 to 1781, this currency 
was almost the only medium of trade, until the sum in circulation 
amounted to two hundred millions of dollars. But about the year 
1780 specie began to be plentiful, being introduced by the French 
army, by a private trade with the Spanish Islands, and by improper 
intercourse with the British garrison in New York. This circum- 
stance accelerated the depreciation of the paper bills, until its value 
had sunk almost to nothing. 

The whole history of this continental paper is a history of public 
and private fraud. Old specie debts were often paid in a depre- 
ciated currency. 

The expedient of supplying the deficiencies of specie by emis- 
sions of paper bills, was adopted very early in the colonies (in 
Pennsylvania in 1723). In many instances these emissions pro- 
duced good effects. These bills were generally a legal tender, in 
all colonial or private contracts, and the sums issued did not gene- 
rally exceed the granted requisite for .a medium of trade ; they 
retained their full nominal value in the purchase of commodities. 
But as they were not received by the British merchants, in pay- 
ment for their goods, there was a great demand for specie and 
bills, which occasioned the latter at various times to depreciate. 
There was introduced a difference between the English sterling 



CONTINENTAL MONET. 109 

money and the currencies of the different States, which remains to 
this day * 

Great exertions were made in every county of the State to keep 
up the value of the continental money. In. the summer of 1779 
meetings were held to induce the community to have entire con- 
fidence in its eventual redemption. In Northampton County a 
meeting was held at the house of John Siegfried, in Allen Town- 
ship. Eesolutiohs were passed recommending to the public the 
importance of this subject. Colonel Henry Geiger presided at the 
meeting, Eobert Traill being secretary. All these exertions proved 
of no avail ; notwithstanding the people of the United States will- 
ingly hazarded their lives in support of the cause of freedom, their 
fortunes were dearer to them than life itself, and therefore the 
representative of money in the form of continental bills lost their 
credit, and after 1781 were worth no more than waste paper.f 

The following receipt of an Easton innkeeper, for supplies fur- 
nished some travelling emissary of the State during the Revolution, 
will serve to show the depreciation of that kind of money: — 









Easton, March 17, 1781. 


To nip of toddy, 


10 dollars. 


To 1 grog, 8 dollars, 


" cash, 


8 


(( 


" 1 bowl of punch, 30 " 


" cash, 


12 


« 


" 21 quarts of oats, 62 " 


" 1 bowl of punch, 


30 


u 


" hay, 90 " 


" 1 bowl of punch, 


30 


(I 


" 12 meals victuals, 260 " 


" 1 grog, 


8 


It. 


" lodging, 40 " 


" washing, 


49 


a 





" 1 bowl of punch, 


30 


a 


667 " 


Received the contents of the above, 








JACOB OPP, Innkeeper. 



* A dollar in sterling money is 4 shillings and 6 pence. But the price of a 
dollar rose in New York to 8 shillings, in New England to 6 shillings, in New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania and Maryland to 7 shillings and 6 pence, in Virginia to 6 shillings, 
in North Carolina to 8 shillings, in South Carolina and Georgia to 4 shillings and 
8 pence. This difference, originating between paper and specie, or bills, continued 
afterwards to exist in the nominal estimation of gold and silver. — Franklin's Mis- 
cellaneous Works. 

f Samuel Hazard, Esq., of Philadelphia, informed the writer that many tons 
weight of this paper money was collected in the city and sent to the paper mills 
of the neighborhood. 



110 E ASTON. 

The meeting at Col. Siegfried's house was held upon the recom- 
mendation of this letter to Abraham Berlin, who was then the 
chairman of the Committee of Safety for Northampton County : — 

Allen Township, July 5, 1779. 
Sir : Notwithstanding the unhappy depredations committed on our frontiers, 
and the alarming situation that our defenceless inhabitants are exposed to, we 
must invite you cordially to take into consideration the case on which our invete- 
rate enemies, the instigators of our present contest with Britain, are endeavoring 
to accomplish, viz : The separation of our councils, the urging of the weak and 
less informed in the situation of our affairs, to have and entertain an aversion to 
our just contest, and by every means in their power either to discourage, or cause 
them totally to forsake it, by representing us entirely therefor, on account of not 
having men or money requisite for war. You are well acquainted with the un- 
happy pi'oceedings of too many of our even Whig neighbors, whose love of money 
has prompted them to demand or even receive double if not sixfold the value of 
many of the necessary articles of life. 

That our currency may be brought to its just value as a medium of trade, and 
the base designs of our enemies frustrated, a number of the most respectable 
inhabitants of Philadelphia, having assembled for the purpose of giving it its 
proper value, reducing such extravagant prices as were demanded for all the neces- 
saries or conveniences of life, having in some measure answered the valuable 
purpose of their meeting, it appearing unto us necessary that their laudable ex- 
ample be copied after — 

We request you to send at least those of your members as a committee, to con- 
sult on such mode of proceeding in the present state of affairs, as may co-operate 
with our brethren in the different counties, which committee are requested to meet 
the different committees of each battalion of this county, at the house of Colonel 
John Siegfried, on Thursday the 29th instant, at ten o'clock in the forenoon. By 
notifying the different captains in each township, the inhabitants thereof may be 
informed on what day they may choose their committee — the sooner the better, 
that they may be in readiness to attend the place appointed. 
Your most ob't serv'ts, 

John Siegfried, Jno. Brisbon, 

Matthew McHenrt, Step. Balliet, 
Conrad Kreider, Peter Burkholder, 

b.obt. lattimore, j. kohler. 

Peter Beissal, 
To Abm. Berlin, Esq., Easton. 

Northampton County never became the theatre of war. No 
battle had been fought within its borders, excepting the attack of 



SOLDIERS HUNG. Ill 

the British and Indians upon the New Englanders at Wyoming; 
yet Easton and Bethlehem frequently became the hospital of the 
contending armies. The largest buildings at Easton were the 
court- house and the German Reformed church. These were often 
crowded with sick or disabled soldiers. After the repulse at 
Gowanns, or Brooklyn Heights, Washington withdrew his troops 
to New York, and soon afterwards evacuated that city, which fell 
into the hands of the British. This loss was followed by those of 
Fort Washington and Fort Lee in quick succession. At this crisis 
of the continental army, the removal of the hospital in which two 
thousand sick and wounded were at this time lying, from Morris- 
town to some point in the interior, was a measure which allowed 
of no delay. In the beginning of December, 1776, some of these 
sick and wounded reached Easton. 

General Washington passed through Easton during the year 
1778. The Bethlehem recollections are that " he arrived at that 
place accompanied by one of his aids, where, after partaking of a 
dinner, he hurried on to Easton." General Mifflin left orders with 
Quartermaster Hooper on the 24th June, 1777, concerning some 
stores at Bethlehem. General Gates passed through Easton on the 
11th April, 1777, on his way to " Ticonderoga." Many other pro- 
minent men, both civil and military, visited Easton durino- the 
Eevolution. During July, 1779, General Sullivan, with an army of 
two thousand five hundred men, and about two thousand pack horses, 
passed through Easton on his expedition to Wyoming, and from 
thence up the Susquehanna into the country of the Iroquois Indians 
(or Six Nations as usually called). After destroying the Indian vil- 
lages and driving the Indians away, the army returned to Easton 
in October. In his journal is recorded: "On the 10th of October 
the army began their march from Wyoming to Easton," arrivin a- 
at Easton on the 14th. Three soldiers belonging to the Pennsyl- 
vania regiment, commanded by Colonel Hubley, were hung at 
Easton, upon Gallows Hill, for murdering a tavernkeeper beyond 
Stroudsburg, into whose house they came in a state of intoxication 
and demanding more liquor of the landlord, which being refused. 



112 E ASTON. 

they shot the man at his own door. The army lay at Easton several 
weeks, and while there were quartered upon the inhabitants. 

Mr. Troxell relates that an officer proceeded from house to house, 
and upon each door marked the number to be quartered. " We 
were obliged," said he, " to receive seven of the soldiers at our 
house, one of which had his wife with him ; whenever this man 
got drunk, he threatened to shoot his wife, and others that came 
near him. His wife complained of his bad conduct to an officer, 
and he had his musket taken from him ; they were altogether " a 
wild set." " One of their many pranks was, that a large party of 
them one day rode in a state of nudity to the Delaware Eiver to 
swim their horses, and in this manner returned again." The court- 
house yet bears the marks of the soldiers' occupation, by employ- 
ing some of their idle time in chipping and cutting on the window 
boards and sills.* 

After the peace with Great Britain, the old controversy on the 

* In whatever manner this expedition was set on foot, which took place in 1779, 
after the evacuation of Philadelphia and the diversion made by de Estaing's 
squadron, the greatest difficulty to surmount was the long march to be made 
through woods, deserts, and morasses, conveying all their provisions on beasts of 
burden, and continually exposed to the attacks of the savages. The instructions 
given by General Sullivan to his officers, the order of march he prescribed to the 
troops, and the discipline he had the ability to maintain, would have done honor 
to the most experienced amongst ancient or modern generals. It may fairly be 
asserted that the journal of this expedition would lose nothing in a comparison 
with the famous retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, which it would resemble very 
much, if we could compare the manoeuvres, the object of which is, attack with 
those which have no other than the preservation of a forlorn army. General Sul- 
livan, after a month's march, arrived without any check at the entrenched camp, 
the last refuge of the savages ; here he attacked them, and was received with great 
courage, insomuch that the victory would have been undecided had not the Indians 
lost many of their chiefs in battle, which never fails to intimidate them, and they 
retreated during the night. The General destroyed their houses and plantations, 
since when they have never shown themselves in a body. However slight and 
insufficient the idea may be that I have given of this campaign, it may neverthe- 
less astonish our European military men to learn that General Sullivan was only 
a lawyer in 1775, and that in the year 1780 he quitted the army to resume his 
profession, and is now civil governor of New Hampshire. — Chastellux, v. ii. p. 316. 




ZMBBAMD BT JOEN~ SABTAIjV. _ PffllA 



IHIdDRS.A.IH.iraEIEID) 



DISPUTE ABOUT LAND TITLES. 113 

subject of land titles in the Wyoming Valley was renewed, and 
soon after grew into a civil war. This war, like the. one in 1769 
and 1770, &c, was marked by sieges of forts, capitulations only to 
be broken, seizures by sheriffs, lynching — in which Col. Timothy 
Pickering suffered some* — petitions, remonstrances, and memorials. 
The parties in that war were known by the name of Pennamites on 
one side, and Connecticut boys or Yankees on the other. In 1784, 
twenty-seven of the Connecticut people were taken prisoners, and 
conveyed to Easton jail, viz., William Slocum, Joseph Carey, 
Gideon Church, Nathaniel Cook, Benjamin Jenkins, William Jen- 
kins, Abraham Pyke, Lord Butler, John Hurlbut, Daniel Sullivan, 
William Jackson, Eichard Halstead, Edward Inman, Thomas Heath, 
Nathaniel Walker, Thomas Eeed, Walter Spencer, John Gore, 
Jonathan Burwell, Prince Allen, Jeremiah White, Thomas Stod- 
dart, Elisha Gaharda, Justus Gaylord, John Platner, and Abraham 
Nesbit. 

After several months' confinement, these prisoners effected their 
escape, in the manner related by Peter Ealer, the jailer: — 

" On the 17th September, 1784, about four o'clock P. M., I ordered Frederick 
Barthold up stairs in the prison where the prisoners were confined, to let out of 
each room (they were in two rooms) two prisoners, as there were two handcuffed 
together, in order to fetch water, as usual ; and going up through an iron gate, and 
after the same was shut again, he heard him, the said assistant, say, that the 
bread which was to be brought up at the same time ought or might be got ready 
to be carried up when those prisoners were to be put up again that were to be let 
down, and he and his wife were getting the bread to carry it through the iron gate, 
that when they (the deponent and his wife) opened the gate, the gate was seized 
by some of the "Wyoming prisoners, who were hid, at the same time, in a crack 
leading to the stairs going up, and that he endeavored to shut the gate again, but 
was overpowered and squeezed and kicked very much ; seeing that, he called to 
his wife to shut the front door, and as the key was not in the lock, she could not 
shut it fast enough ; he then called to her to alarm the neighbors, as he saw he 
would be overpowered, and ran to the front door himself in order to lock the same, 
and was overpowered again and bruised very much, so that he feels very unwell 



* It is well known that this celebrated gentleman was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and for some years a resident of Easton. Under the presidency of Washington he 
became Secretary of State. 



114 E ASTON. 

yet, and all the prisoners from Wyoming, twenty-five in number, ran out, and that 
he pursued them and apprehended one." 

George Troxall (yet living at Easton) informed the writer that 
there was a great excitement in Easton at the time of this escape, 
and that he saw some of the prisoners running up the hill into 
the barrens at the head of the town. The Wyoming dispute was 
finally arranged a few years afterwards. 

Old Northampton County, in all national emergencies, has re- 
mained true to the spirit of 1776. She has never faltered in her 
patriotism. In the year 1794, two companies of her infantry took 
part in the western expedition against the " "Whiskey Boys," as the 
insurrectionists in Pennsylvania, who undertook to resist by force 
a tax imposed by government upon distilleries, were called. One 
of the companies was commanded by Captain John Arndt. They 
were absent from the county several months ; and though by the 
submission of the insurgents no opportunity had been afforded for 
"flashing the maiden sword/' their patriotism was shown in obeying 
their country's call ; they had not proceeded farther than Carlisle, 
when they received orders to return. In the war of 1812, North- 
ampton County responded to every call made upon her, and sent 
forth her sons to repel the aggressor, with an alacrity and hearti- 
ness worthy of her character and fame. We might dwell at some 
length upon this manifestation of her patriotism, but it is not 
essential at this time; there are men yet living who have been 
actors in that war with England, and whose memories comprehend 
the whole of that glorious period, and who have by their firesides 
made their children familiar with its history. We had prepared 
a complete list of the officers and privates from the counties of 
Northampton and Lehigh who participated in the war of 1812, 
with the intention of inserting them, but our space will not permit. 
The patriotism exhibited on that occasion, by the inhabitants of 
this section of country, will be shown by the following narrative 
of an old soldier, who was a member of one of the companies that 
started from Easton for Camp Dupont : — 



THE WAR OF 1812. 115 

" You must know that we were all anxious to receive the news from the seat of 
war as early as possible, particularly so as the last news informed us that the 
enemy was marching towards the capital ; so we hired an express rider to go and 
meet the Philadelphia stage, and bring us the news in advance. I remember well 
the day we expected the news ; we had all assembled at the old stone tavern, 
looking anxiously towards the old Philadelphia road, each one trying to catch the 
first glimpse of the rider — and ever and anon the mischievous boys, to while away 
the time, would cry 'here he comes, here he is,' &c. ; we of course would all rush 
to the spot — only to find that a stray cow or sheep that had chanced to pass the 
road had been taken for our express rider. Our patience was finally rewarded 
by the appearance of the rider himself, who came galloping up the street with his 
horse covered with foam, and himself calling out ' the capital is burned ! the capital 
is burned !' and coming towards us, he threw us a paper which contained a full 
account of the transaction. One of our number taking the paper, got upon the 
topmost step and read it to the assembled multitude, for the news had spread like 
wildfire, and there had congregated at this place several hundred men and women. 
After the populace had heard of this base and cowardly act of the British army, 
their indignation knew no bounds ; meetings were called, the court-house bell was 
rung, martial music paraded the streets, and the people in fact could not have 
been in a greater excitement had the enemy been within a mile of the place. This 
fuss and show was of some account — for by evening we had formed a rifle com- 
pany, and had collected over sixty names. We elected as our captain Abraham 
Horn — and I think I can say this Horn family was one of the most patriotic in the 
State, for in the company we had seven brothers and one brother-in-law. The 
ladies of the town appeared to have imbibed the same spirit. As soon as they had 
ascertained the company had been organized, they formed themselves into sewing 
societies, and within three days had provided us with uniforms, clothing, blankets, 
knapsack, and everything their tidy little hands and noble hearts could do for our 
comfort and their country's honor. On the morning we left, our captain paraded 
us through the streets of the town — and the country people from all quarters came 
to see us. During our march we were presented with a flag by Miss Rosanna 
Bidleman, which had been made by the ladies as a parting tribute. In presenting 
the flag, the fair donor said : ' Under this flag march on to victory and glory !' Our 
ensign, who was a thorough Dutchman, received it with all the grace he could 
command, and with a polite bow exclaimed, 'I is de man!' This speech, as we 
called it, served us many an hour's sport with the poor fellow — but we were all 
satisfied that had he have had an opportunity to have shown his valor on the 
battle-field, the enemy would have had ample proof that he 'was de man!' " 

Before proceeding to describe the present appearance of Easton, 
with its extensive factories, handsome residences, and numerous 
public buildings, we will take the liberty of inserting a few ex- 



116 EASTON. 

tracts from letters written by several distinguished travellers who 
visited the town about the close of the eighteenth century, and 
who give a general description of the place and its trade at that 
time. 

The Duke de la Kochefoucault Liancourt, vol. ii. p. 414 of his 
Journal of Travels in America, in 1797, says: — 

" Eastern is built on the conflux of the rivers Lehigh and Delaware ; it is the 
capital of the county of Northampton, which has nearly 26,000 of inhabitants. 
The land which is the site of the town is about two hundred acres in extent, lying 
compactly between the river and the mountains ; it is nothing but sand and peb- 
bles, and the mountains which surround it are composed of calcareous stone. The 
situation of this ground, its composition, and a comparison of it with other lands 
around, leave no doubt that it must have formerly been the bed of the rivers that 
have changed their course. This city, consisting of one hundred and fifty houses, 
many of them of stone, contains the public buildings of the county. The inhabit- 
ants are mostly Germans and their descendants. The city was began to be built in 
1750, and has gradually increased. Almost the whole of the land, as well as a great 
part of the land in the neighborhood, belonged to the family of Tenn. At the 
time of the Revolution a great number of persons seized upon it unlawfully, and 
it was not till 1784 that the Penn family were restored to their rights upon a set- 
tlement with the possessors, and received from them a price not equal to the present 
value, but considerably more than it was worth at the time of the usurpation ; 
those who refused were compelled by law. 

"Easton has a considerable trade in corn (wheat) with Philadelphia. There 
belong to this city, and stand within seven miles around it, eleven good mills, 
upon the same construction as those of Brandywine. They send annually thirty- 
flve thousand barrels of flour to the Philadelphia market. A part of Jersey, in the 
neighborhood of the Delaware, and which enjoys no creek capable of turning 
mills, sends their corn (wheat) to the mills about Easton, as do all the county of 
Northampton. The Delaware is navigable for vessels of a considerable burthen 
a hundred miles higher than Easton. The vessels from Easton to Philadelphia 
carry seventy barrels of flour. 

" The town lots, which are twenty feet front and two hundred in depth, are 
sold from two hundred and forty to five hundred dollars, according to their situa- 
tions. The lands in the neighborhood are worth from twenty-five to one hundred 
dollars the acre. This country, like all the rest of Pennsylvania, is covered with 
fine orchards ; they seem to begin to know something of the differences of the kinds 
of trees and the advantage of grafting. The laborers are paid from four to five 
shillings a day in the country about Easton. Masons and carpenters receive in 
the town a dollar and a quarter. Meal costs five pence a pound, and is in great 



EASTON IN 1798. 117 

abundance. Board costs here three dollars a week, and houses let at forty-five 
dollars." 

The following description of Easton, is from the pen of Joseph 
Hopkinson, Esq., an eminent lawyer in Philadelphia, who for 
many years practised at the Northampton County bar. The de- 
scription is dated August, 1798, and was published in the Phila- 
delphia Magazine at that time : — 

" Little more than half a century has elapsed since naught but dreary wilds, the 
gloomy haunts of the wild savage Indian occupied the place where now stands 
the flourishing and sprightly borough of Easton. It was founded and laid out by 
William Parsons, Esq., under the directions of the then Proprietaries of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

" The town consists of about two hundred dwelling houses, generally frame and 
log buildings, and some of stone, built with neatness and elegance ; it contains 
about fourteen hundred inhabitants, chiefly Germans ; and is the county town of 
Northampton, where the public offices are established, and the courts of justice 
held. It is situated on a beautiful plain, at the confluence of the rivers Delaware 
and Lehigh, about sixty miles north of Philadelphia. 

" From its central and commodious situation, and its being a general market, to 
which produce of every kind is drawn from the interior parts of the country down 
the Delaware and Lehigh, and the numerous streams connected with those rivers, 
Easton is possessed of advantages highly calculated to sustain the importance it 
justly holds among the inland trading towns of Pennsylvania, and there is at all 
times a constant communication between it and Philadelphia. 

" That the means of intercourse between the upper parts of New Jersey and 
Easton may be rendered more easy and practicable, a company was some time ago 
incorporated for the purpose of erecting a wooden bridge over the river Delaware 
at Easton. 

" Mr. Palmer, from Newburyport, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is 
employed as the architect for building this noble structure. The work was com- 
menced last summer (1797), and is now prosecuting with all ardor that a busi- 
ness of this nature will admit of. It is thrown over the river opposite Northampton 
Street, the principal and most central street of the town, where the Delaware is near 
six hundred feet wide, and is to be of three arches, and thirty-four feet wide, 
suitably divided into carriage and foot ways. Another bridge, also of wood, two 
hundred and eighty feet in length, and twenty -two feet wide, built by Abraham 
Horn, Esq., over the river Lehigh, opposite Pomfret Street, on a new plan of a 
single arch, will be finished in the course of this summer. Works of this kind, 
whilst they reflect honor on the legislature, to whose public spirit, manifested on 
many occasions, and the enterprising genius of the citizens of Pennsylvania, they 



118 E ASTON. 

are to be attributed, will also be productive of incalculable benefit, not only to the 
neighborhood more immediately interested, but to the two adjoining States at 
large. 

" In the centre of the town, at the intersection of Northampton and Pomfret 
Streets, stands the court-house, a handsome stone building, two stories high, with 
an open dome or cupola, and a bell in it ; near it are the prison and the building 
destined for the safe keeping of the public records, and in which the civil offices 
are kept. It is perfectly fire-proof ; it was built in the year 1792, is one-story high, 
of an oblong form, with a wide entry through the middle, communicating with 
two spacious rooms on eacb side — each of the rooms are arched over ; the floors 
are all plastered ; the casements of the windows are of stone, and the whole of the 
doors and shutters are of iron. It is situated on the southeast corner of the court- 
house. 

" A little towards the northeast of the court-house, in Pomfret Street, is the 
church, a large and handsome structure, in which Divine service is performed both 
by the Lutherans and reformed persuasions in common. 

" In the year 1793, a printing-office was also established in this town. On a 
beautiful eminence, near the river Delaware, between Northampton and Spring 
Garden Streets, is erected an academy, two stories high, called the Union Academy, 
which commands a beautiful and incomparable prospect over the town to Phillips- 
burg, and other parts of the State of New Jersey, as also up and down the river 
Delaware ; it was originally designed as a college, but only schools for teaching 
the English and German languages, have as yet been established. 

" There are a number of manufactories, of various kinds, within the borough. 

" On Bushkill Creek, which empties into the Delaware on the north side of Eas- 
ton, over which a stone bridge of three arches is erected, are four grist-mills, four 
saw -mills, an oil mill, and two bark-mills, with three tanneries, where business is 
carried on very extensively. 

" In the years 1796 and 1797, many thousand barrels of flour were manufactured 
and transported to Philadelphia, in boats carrying from 100 to 200 barrels. 

" Two stages ply constantly between this place and Philadelphia ; one of them 
runs twice a week in summer, and once in winter. 

" The situation of Easton being pleasant, the air fine and salubrious, and the 
water good, renders it an exceedingly healthy place, insomuch that it has of late 
become a fashionable summer retreat to many of the citizens of Philadelphia. 

" The prospects which this town commands — though not very extensive — being 
bounded by hills beyond the river Delaware on the east, the Lehigh on the south, 
and the Bushkill on the north, and by a hill towards the west ; it is still truly 
charming, and has a very romantic appearance." 

Easton, the seat of justice of Northampton County, was incorpo- 
rated as a borough in 1789, and received the second charter of 



PRESENT APPEARANCE. 119 

incorporation in 1823 ; it is at the present time one of the largest 
boroughs in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, containing be- 
tween 11,000 and 12,000 inhabitants. 

The original plan of the town extended from the Lehigh River 
to the Bushkill Creek, in one direction, and from the Delaware 
River, to the top of the hill, in the other ; but such has been the 
rapid increase of the town since 1830, that it has overstepped the 
bounds originally allotted to it, and " the top of the hill," formerly 
the western boundary, has become the centre of the town. Its 
increase, prior to the great works of internal improvement which 
centre here, was singularly regular and progressive. Its popula- 
tion in 1810, was 1650 ; in 1820, 2450 ; in 1830, 3700 ; showing a 
regular increase of fifty per cent, for each ten years. Between the 
years 1830 (about the time the first public improvements were 
being made), and 1852, when the first railroad was completed to 
Easton, the population had increased much beyond the regular 
rate, and since that time the increase has been still greater, which 
may be fairly attributed to the increased business which the con- 
centration of so many public improvements has occasioned. 

Easton well deserves the title of a city, as there is nothing rural 
in its appearance ; the streets and alleys are laid off at right angles, 
some of which are paved, and others macadamized ; at night they 
are well lighted by a liberal supply of gas. The drainage of the 
town is done by means of culverts and sewers, which empty into 
the different streams surrounding the town. The footwalks are 
about fifteen feet in width, and are well laid with brick and North 
River flagging ; the curbs are of uniform width, and are made of 
hammer-dressed limestone, which gives to the streets and alleys a 
neat and substantial appearance. The houses are generally built 
of brick, and those of modern date are lofty, and compactly 
arranged. Of late years, some of the wealthier citizens have 
erected magnificent and costly residences, and many, for want of 
sufficient room within the old borough limits, have taken advantage 
of the many fine locations surrounding the town for this purpose, 
among which we may mention more especially the grounds of 



120 E ASTON. 

Lafayette and Olive Parks. The court-house — as in all the older 
proprietary towns — is situated in the centre of a square, at the inter- 
resection of the two principal streets (Third and Northampton Streets); 
within this square are also located the county buildings, Farmers' 
and Mechanics' Bank, market-house, &c. &c. The Delaware Eiver 
is spanned at this place by two bridges, one a wagon bridge, 
and the other the double railroad bridge connecting the Lehigh 
Valley Eailroad with the New Jersey Central, and the Belvidere 
Delaware Railroads. The wagon bridge is the one spoken of by 
Mr. Hopkinson, in his description of Easton in 1798, on page 117, 
and connects the town with that of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. 
This bridge was erected under the supervision of Cyrus Palmer, 
of Massachusetts, the same architect who erected the permanent 
bridge over the Schuylkill at Market Street, Philadelphia. It has 
stood the test for many years, and has proved a strong and sub- 
stantial structure. In 1841, it was the only bridge on the Dela- 
ware, north of Trenton, that withstood the memorable freshet of 
that year. Its construction is a combination of the truss and arch 
principle, is about 600 feet in length between the abutments, and 
consists of three arches, of nearly 200 feet each. The original act 
of incorporation was passed by the legislature of Pennsylvania, on 
the 13th of March, 1795, and by the legislature of New Jersey on 
the 18th of the same month. The stock was divided into shares 
of $100, and the Company was to be incorporated as soon as one 
hundred shares of stock should be subscribed by twenty-five per- 
sons or more. Nearly half of the stock subscribed was paid in 
between the years 1795 and 1799, and a large quantity of material 
was procured, but the building did not progress until 1803, when 
the late Samuel Sitgreaves took it in hand, and assumed the active 
superintendence of its. affairs, and to his care and attention much 
of the credit is due for the present prosperous state of the finances 
of the Company. The whole cost of the bridge was $61,854 57. 
The amount of stock actually subscribed for was 297 shares, 
amounting to $29,700. This, in connection with the proceeds 
of a lottery authorized by law, and amounting to $12,500, was 



BRIDGES ACEOSS THE DELAWARE. 121 

paid upon the cost of the bridge, leaving the Company in debt 
$19,654 57. The bridge was ready for crossing in October, 1806, 
but was not entirely completed until May, 1807. The tolls for the 
six years following its completion, were devoted to the payment of 
the above debt. 

It now pays a dividend of twenty-four dollars per share per 
annum, and has a contingent fund sufficient to rebuild the bridge 
in case of its destruction. The present officers are Hon. James M. 
Porter, President, and James Hackett, Esq., Treasurer. The rail- 
road bridge, which spans the Delaware just below the mouth of 
the Lehigh Eiver, is probably the only similar bridge in America; 
its colossal proportions strike with astonishment the mind of every 
traveller who views it. The peculiarity of the bridge is that upon 
it are two tracks, one about twenty feet above the other, the upper 
one connecting the Lehigh Valley Kailroad with the New Jersey 
Central Railroad, and the lower one with the Belvidere Dela- 
ware Railroad. The tracks are built thus one above the other, 
because the grade of the one road is higher than the other; after 
having crossed the bridge, the track of the Central Railroad 
gradually descends, while that of the Belvidere Delaware Rail- 
road ascends in the same proportion, until at the distance of about 
a half mile they meet upon a common level, and are switched off 
upon the same track; by this arrangement a continuous line of 
railway is obtained between the mines, furnaces, and manufacturers 
of the Lehigh Yalley, and the cities of New York, Trenton, New- 
ark, &c. &c. The bridge now spanning the Lehigh River at Easton 
is the fifth one erected upon the same spot. The first was erected 
in 1798, by Abraham Horn, and consisted of but a single arch, 
which spanned the river from shore to shore. After the bracing 
was taken from under it, it stood but a few days — a person by the 
name of Stover had just crossed it, with a load of salt, when it fell 
with a tremendous crash. As the bridge had not yet been ap^ 
proved by the County Commissioners, the loss fell upon the con- 
tractor. By the aid of subscription from his friends, he afterwards 
erected another; but, profiting by his former experience, supported 



122 EASTON. 

it by two piers, instead of depending upon the air alone, as he 
appeared to have done with the first. This bridge stood a number 
of years, but was finally destroyed by high water, and was replaced, 
in 1811, by a chain bridge; this bridge was suspended on four 
chains, hanging in two loops and two half loops, having two pass- 
ways for teams, and a foot walk between, which was guarded by 
hand-railings. This bridge remained for many years, but was 
finally removed, being considered unsafe, and a bridge similar to 
the present one erected in its place ; during the great freshet of 
1841 this bridge was destroyed, and the present structure erected 
on the same piers and abutments. 

The Bushkill Creek is crossed by three stone arched bridges. 
The one at Hamilton Street (now Fourth) was originally erected in 
1763, rebuilt 1792 ; the second, at Pomfret Street (now Third), in 
1833 ; and the third, at Front Street, in 1850. 

In its natural scenery, Easton exhibits many points of attraction, 
and its history affords many objects of interest. Taking your 
position on any of the heights which surround the town, pic- 
turesque views meet the eye, the scenery is delightful and varie- 
gated. From the peculiar location of the town, not more than 
one-third of it can be seen from any one point. 

At the north of the town rises Mt. Lafayette, to the height of 
about one hundred and fifty feet, and upon which is located La- 
fayette College. The view from this hill is one of the finest that 
can be had in the neighborhood, and perhaps is the best that can 
be had of the town and the improvements surrounding it. 

Lafayette College had its origin in the public spirited exertions 
of the Hon. James M. Porter, and a number of other intelligent 
citizens of Easton, its success may be attributed to the persevering 
industry of its first president, the Eev. George Junkin, D. D. Be- 
tween Front and Second, and Northampton and Spring Garden 
Streets, rises Academy Hill, to the height of about fifty feet ; on 
this hill and the surrounding grounds are located the public 
schools for Lehigh and Bushkill Wards; here also are located the 
male and female high schools, conducted under the same system as 



EASTON WATER COMPANY. 123 

those of Philadelphia; in this school the male pupils are prepared 
for college, and the young ladies are instructed in the higher 
branches of female education. Besides the school buildings located 
here, there is another large academy situated in West Ward, it 
being that part of the town which Mr. Parsons, in his description 
of Easton, 1752, called the "Barrens," but which now contains 
some of the finest buildings in the place. 

On the northwestern part of the original town plan, rises Mt. 
Jefferson, to the height of about 200 feet. This mountain is the 
most conspicuous in the town, and from its being easy of access, is 
a place of great resort for pedestrians during the summer evenings. 
The election of Thomas Jefferson to the presidency was celebrated 
on this eminence, and from thence originated the name. We would 
be pleased to describe to our numerous readers the many beautiful 
views to be had from the hills which surround the town ; but our 
space forbids. 

The most prominent eminences in the neighborhood are Mt. 
Washington, Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Taylor, Mt. Parnassus, 
Mt. Ida, Mt. Lebanon, Chestnut Hill, Lehigh Hills, Marble Hill and 
Academy Hill. 

The Easton Water Company was incorporated by an act of Assem- 
bly, March 24th, 1817. The water was brought from an elevated 
spring on Chestnut Hill, about one mile from Easton, and conveyed 
to the reservoir on the " top of the hill" (now called Sixth Street) ; 
from this reservoir the water was distributed to the few hydrants 
which were placed in different parts of the town, for the conveni- 
ence of the inhabitants. The supply from this spring appeared to 
have been inadequate from the first. A resolution passed by the 
Board of Managers, and signed by the president of the company, 
George Wolf, " earnestly enjoined on the innkeepers in an especial 
manner, to use all possible means in their power to prevent the 
farmers and others from watering their horses out of the hydrants, 
and to urge them to take their horses to water either to the Bush- 
kill Creek or the rivers Lehigh or Delaware. The water supplied 
by this company in connection with that obtained from the old 



124 E ASTON. 

pumps, of which there were a large number, supplied the town 
until 1840, when the company erected new works on the Delaware 
River, just above the mouth of the Bushkill Creek. Here are 
used two steam engines for the purpose of forcing the -water into 
the reservoir which is situated on College Hill, about half a mile 
distant. After the completion of these works all the hydrants in 
the streets, and many of the old pumps were removed, thus com- 
pelling every family to have the water taken into their dwellings ; 
notwithstanding the many protests against this mode of proceeding, 
there are but few families now that would part with the conveni- 
ence. The supply from these works is ample for that part of the 
town known as the Bushkill and Lehigh wards, and would, in fact, 
be sufficient for the whole town, had it not to overcome a hill which 
divides the West Ward from the two wards above mentioned, and 
prevents a steady supply to the western part of the town. To 
remedy this the citizens of West Ward associated themselves into a 
company, under the title of the West Ward Water Co., and was 
incorporated May 4th, 1854 ; they erected a house and the neces- 
sary pumping and forcing apparatus on the Lehigh River, near the 
borough line ; these works are not yet completed. This company 
have, since their organization, purchased all of the works of the 
old Easton Water Co., excepting that part made in 1817. The 
works of this company, after completion, will, in connection with 
those at present in operation, give to Easton as abundant a supply 
of pure water as any other place possesses or can have. The 
president of the company is T. R. Sitgreaves, Esq. Easton also 
possesses an excellent set of gas works, the buildings of which are 
situated near the corner of Bushkill and Front Streets; the company 
was incorporated March 14th, 1850, with a capital of $40,000, and 
the privilege of increasing to $100,000. The works were com- 
menced in June, 1851, and were completed six months after, with 
four miles of pipe, besides service pipe for 200 families ; the works 
have increased in size since that time, and now supply the majority 
of families in Easton, as well as those in South Easton and Phillips- 



BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES. 125 

burg. The cost of the works was near $100,000. The president 
of the company is M. Hale Jones, Esq. 

There are two banks in Easton, one, the old "Easton Bank," 
situated at the corner of Northampton Street and Bank Alley, was 
established in 1815, with a capital of $400,000, and of which 
Samuel Sitgreaves was president and Col. Thomas McKeen cashier. 
After the decease of the first president, Thomas McKeen was elected 
president and James Sinton cashier. This bank has been rechar- 
tered several times ; the Easton Sentinel says : " When the intelli- 
gence reached Easton in 1852 that the bank had been rechartered 
for 15 years, the strongest symptoms of rejoicing were manifested 
by the citizens ; cannons were fired, bands discoursed music 
throughout the streets, houses were illuminated, and, in fact, every 
means of giving vent to their satisfied feelings were demonstrated." 
In October, 1857, the bank was again rechartered, with an increase 
of $200,000 to the original capital. The present officers are Hon. 
D. D. Wagner, president, and William Hackett, cashier. 

The Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Easton is situated on the 
south side of the public square, and was incorporated in 1851, 
with a capital of $400,000 ; and at which time Peter S. Michler 
was elected president, and McEvers Forman cashier, both of whom 
have continued to fill these offices up to the present time. Both 
of these banks have been ably and faithfully conducted, and have 
always maintained a high degree of credit. A branch of the Bank 
of Pennsylvania was formerly located here. 

There is also a Mutual Fire Insurance Company in Easton; it 
has been in existence nearly thirty years. The company was in- 
corporated March 12th, 1880, and was one of the first of the mutual 
insurance companies in the State, since then become so popular. 
Since its organization this company has paid a large sum for losses, 
but owing to the large number of its members, the amount paid by 
each has been but trifling compared with the cost in stock com- 
panies. The number of members at the close of the first year was 
thirty-nine, in 1854 it had increased to 1164 members, and the 
deposits for premiums amounted to over $60,000. There must at 



126 E ASTON. 

this time be over $5,000,000 worth of property insured in this 
office. By a supplement to the charter of the company, passed 
February, 1846, the liabilities of members for losses at any one 
time is limited to three times the amount of their deposits. John 
Green, now deceased, was the originator of this company, and was 
the president for many years. At the present time the officers 
are : President, Abraham Miller ; Treasurer, Anthony McCoy ; 
Secretary, Hon. H. D. Maxwell. 

The Easton Cemetery was incorporated in 1850. It is located 
on the Bushkill Creek, about half a mile from the court-house, 
upon a high and pleasant site retired from the busy hum of life. 
The tract of land contains about forty acres, and is laid out in 
beautiful walks and carriage ways. Previous to 1851, the inter- 
ments were made in the burial grounds attached to the different 
churches, but since that time they are generally made in the ceme- 
tery, and many of the bodies that were interred in other burial 
grounds have been removed to this beautiful spot. There has 
been many beautiful private or family monuments erected within 
the last few years, together with one to the memory of George 
Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

The foundation of this monument, which is plain, consists of several blocks of 
marble, is six feet in breadth and depth by two in height, and the blocks are gut- 
tered at the jointings so as to give the greatest relief and boldness. Upon this the 
monument proper commences with the plinth, which is four feet two inches by one 
foot two inches in height, with suitable head and moulding forming the base 
proper. Upon this rests the part which we may call the pedestal. It is three feet 
and one inch square at the bottom and tapers to two feet ten at the top, its height 
being three feet five. On each corner is carved an inverted torch, and the sides 
are occupied with inscriptions. Above this is a superb cornice three feet ten, by 
one foot ten in height. This completes the work to the column. Upon this cornice 
stands the base of the column, which is admirably adapted. On the sides are the 
arms of Pennsylvania. The whole base of the column is near three feet in height, 
and is two feet four inches on the sides. Next we have the shaft, which is one 
foot eight inches on its sides, at the bottom, and tapers to one foot one at the top, 
being in height about ten feet. The sides are entirely plain until about mid- 
height, where, inclosed in a neat raised work, the name of " Taylor," stands out 
upon the shaft. Over the top of the shaft hangs the American flag in crape, the 



FAIR GROUNDS. 127 

stars resting upon the upper part and the folds falling gracefully down the shaft 
for nearly half its length. Upon the flag and surmounting the whole work, is a 
large spread eagle, the bird of his country watching over him, and guarding his 
country's flag. Nothing could have been more appropriate for the monument of a 
patriot. The work is full of significance. It tells of noble deeds ; of worth ; of 
renown ; a patriot's death — a country's loss — a nation's grief. 

The whole monument is composed of the purest white Italian 
marble, is about twenty-five feet in height, and occupies one of the 
most prominent points in the cemetery. It was dedicated on the 
20th of November, 1855. 

The first Agricultural Fair of Northampton County was held at 
Easton, on the 5th, 6th, and 7th days of October, 1853. The 
second exhibition was held at Nazareth the following year. After 
this exhibition the association were desirous of securing a location 
upon which they could erect suitable and permanent buildings for 
the accommodation of exhibitors and visitors. It was desirable for 
the benefit of the association in making this selection to make 
choice of the place most easy of access, and most likely to attract 
the greatest number of visitors. The members of the company 
from Easton claimed the right, for many reasons, to have it located 
there. The Bethlehem members advanced the same arguments in 
favor of their town. After considerable cross-firing through the 
papers of each place, the matter was compromised by locating the 
grounds at Nazareth, seven miles from Easton and ten from Bethle- 
hem. During the following year, some of the more enterprising 
citizens of Easton established another agricultural society, and 
were incorporated under the title of the Farmers' and Mechanics' 
Institute of Northampton County. About thirty acres of land were 
purchased just west of the borough line, upon which the proper 
buildings were erected. The main building is a splendid edifice, 
150 feet in length by 60 feet in depth, and two stories high, with a 
handsomely ornamented front; the whole being surmounted with a 
dome 40 feet high, and from which a splendid view is had of the 
adjacent country. 

The driving track is half a mile, measuring three feet from the 
inner edge of the track. It is fifty feet wide, constructed without 



128 EASTON. 

short curves, and is altogether one of the finest tracks in the State. 
At the entrance is the Stewart's or overseer's house. 30 feet front, 
with an office of ten feet front on each side. Stables and sheds 
have also been erected for the various animals brought hither for 
exhibition. The grounds belonging to the association are inclosed 
by a high fence, and cost, in connection with the buildings thereon 
and improvements, about $85,000. The first exhibition of this 
Institute was held in 1856, on 23d, 24th, 25th, and 26th days of 
September ; the enterprise has proved entirely successful, and has 
been the means of attracting to the town from 15,000 to 30,000 
strangers every fall. The Easton Sentinel, speaking of the first 
exhibition says : " It was one of the most stupendous affairs ever 
gotten up in this part of the State ; on the 25th about 15,000 per- 
sons attended the fair, and during the four days not less than 40,000 
persons were in the inclosure." Notwithstanding the great popu- 
larity of this Institute, the fairs of the old Northampton Society, 
which were held at Nazareth the week following, were well at- 
tended, and presented a very creditable display. Both institutions 
appear to be in a flourishing condition. The officers of the 
Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute, are Samuel Yohe, Esq., presi- 
dent, Jacob B. Odenwelder, vice-president, George W. Yeates, 
secretary, and Philip Lerch, Jr., treasurer. 

Easton at the present time contains thirteen churches, viz : — 

1. German Reformed Church, cor. of Third Street and Church Alley. Rev. John 
Beck, Pastor. 

2. First Presbyterian Church, cor. Second and Bushkill Streets. Rev. John 
Gray, D. D., Pastor. 

3. Trinity Church (Episcopalian), cor. of Spring Garden Streets and Sitgreaves 
Alley. Rev. J. J. Elsegood, Rector. 

4. St. John's, Lutheran, Ferry St. between Third and Fourth Streets. Rev. B. 
Sadtter, Pastor. 

5. Methodist Episcopal, cor. Second Street and Pine Alley. Rev. M. D. Kurtz 
Pastor. 

6. Christ's, Lutheran, cor. of Fourth and Ferry Streets. Rev. E. Greenwald, 
Pastor. 

7. St. Bernard, Catholic, Fifth Street between Ferry and Lehigh Streets. Rev. 
Thomas Reardon, Priest. 



CHURCHES. 129 

8. Jewish Synagogue, Sixth Street between Northampton and Ferry. Edward 
Rubin, Rabbi. 

9. Universalist, cor. Ferry Street and Sitgreaves Alley. Vacant. 

10. Baptist, Ferry St. between Fourth and Fifth Streets. 

11. Dutch Reformed, Fifth Street north of Northampton Street. Rev. C. H. Edgar, 
Pastor. 

12. Brainard (Presbyterian), Spring Garden and Sitgreaves Alley. Rev. G. W. 
McPhail, D. D., Pastor. 

13. German Evangelical Methodist, Northampton Street above Sixth Street. 

The majority of the churches are handsome and costly struc- 
tures, and generally have parsonages attached to them. 

Eev. J. W. Kichards, the pastor of St. John's Church, at the 
close of his ministry in Easton, preached a sermon on the 9th day 
of March, 1851, giving a full account of the early history of the 
Lutherans in and near Easton, of which the following is an ex- 
tract : — 

" The first church of the Lutherans was about one mile from Easton (the ruins 
of which are still visible), in the southeast corner lot formed by the old Philadel- 
phia road, and the road leading past Leonhart Walters. Rev. Birkenstack 
preached there from 1740 to 1748 (two baptisms are recorded for 1733). About 
1747, Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg had procured from the proprietary govern- 
ment, through Conrad Weiser, a piece of ground on which to erect ' a log school- 
house, or church.' From 1749 to 1754, this congregation, named the 'Forks,' toge- 
ther with Saucon, Upper Milford, &c, was faithfully served by the Rev. Ludolph 
Schrenk ; he then removed to Raritan, and Muhlenberg says ' a vagabond crept 
into the congregation at the forks of the Delaware, and caused distraction.' 

" In 1762, the congregation on the old Philadelphia road abandoned its place of 
worship, and seems to have been incorporated with the one at Easton, which now 
became more prominent and consolidated. Muhlenberg writes thus: 'May 13, 
1763, a man from Easton visited me, who informed me that the Lutheran congre- 
gation of that place had bought a large house for j£400 ($1066), which they intend 
to use for a church and parsonage, and they earnestly intreated the ministerium 
to obtain a faithful pastor for them.' In June, 1763, the Rev. Mr. Hausili received 
and accepted a call from Easton (removing thither from Reading, Pa.), at which 
place he remained until, probably, the year 1769. He was succeeded by the Rev. 
Mr. Shait, A. D. 1769. He it was who commenced the first church records of bap- 
tisms, &c, and of vestry meetings, which the congregation now possesses — what- 
ever else they may have had, if any, being lost." 

9 



130 E ASTON. 

The Union Church, now the German Eeformed, was erected in 
1776, by the German Eeformed and Lutheran congregations, and 
is described by Mr. Hopkinson, in 1798, as a " large and handsome 
structure ; it is said that the persons who had contracted for the 
mason and carpenter work were paid in continental currency, and, 
by its depreciation, lost nearly their entire earnings; the writer has 
been thus informed by the descendants of those persons. It ap- 
pears from the acts of Congress, and the Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
that a certain scale of depreciation was enacted, commencing with 
one per cent., and increasing to seventy-five, for one dollar. It is 
most probable that the workmen were paid at an early time, when 
the depreciation was but trifling, and that by keeping it in their 
possession to the time of its greatest depreciation, the allegation of 
the mason, Mr. Meixel, that for all the mason work at the church 
the money received was sufficient to buy a bag of wheat, and no 
more, might be true. 

There being a debt remaining unpaid of four hundred pounds, 
the trustees petitioned the legislature for license to permit Mr. 
Hellick* to collect the amount by subscription, which was granted. 
In 1832, the church was repaired and a steeple erected, which until 
the present stands conspicuously forth in a view of the town. 

The Lutheran congregation worshipping in the Union Church, 
desirous of erecting a church of their own, sold their interest in it 
for the sum of $1,600 to the German Reformed congregation, and 
on the 31st of May, 1830, laid the corner stone for the church, 
which they named the St. John's Church, situated in Ferry Street, 
below Hamilton Street (now Fourth Street). In 1843, a division 
took place, and the seceding party built a church, in 1844, called 
the " Christ's Church." 

The inhabitants of Easton were nearly all Germans at the time 
of the erection of the Union Church, in 1776, and were either of 
the German Reformed or Lutheran persuasions; no other church 
was needed for many years. About the year 1800, the number of 
Presbyterians in the town began to increase, and in 1819 they 

* The schoolmaster. 



CHURCHES. 131 

erected the First Presbyterian Church. In the Easton Sentinel, of 
that year, we find the following communication : — ■ 

" After a lapse of more than forty years, we behold with pleasure the erection 
of another house of public worship in this place. Whilst we look with veneration 
on that noble pile of building erected by the forefathers of our German brethren in 
the year 1777, we consider the church just completed by the English Presbyterians, 
as a beautiful specimen of the taste of the times in which we live. It is proposed 
to open the new church for Divine service on Sunday the 22d instant, at 10 o'clock 
in the forenoon, by the Rev. David Bishop, assisted by one or two other Rev. 
gentlemen. Much liberality has been experienced from Christians of other de- 
nominations, and it would be gratifying on this, as on every other occasion, to 
afford them an opportunity of enjoying a seat in the house which they have gener- 
ously contributed to erect." 

The Episcopal church was erected in 1820, principally through 
the liberal aid of Samuel Sitgreaves, Esq. A Methodist church 
was erected in 1835, in Fermor Street (now Second Street) between 
Northampton and Ferry Streets. This church was destroyed by 
fire in 1855, and in 1856 rebuilt at a cost of about $10,000. The 
first Methodist in the neighborhood was Mr. Philip Reese, of 
Phillipsburg, who commenced holding meetings in his house near 
the New Jersey Eailroad Depot, about the year 1830, which soon 
attracted the attention of other persons from Easton ; meetings for 
some years were held in private houses at Easton, which occasioned 
such an increase that the society was encouraged to erect the 
church in 1835. In a journal of events occurring in Bethlehem, 
in 1777 (see page 174 Bethlehem Souvenir), it is stated, "Captain 
Webb, the Methodist preacher, arrived with his family. He is a 
prisoner on parole, with permission to remain at Bethlehem until 
exchanged." This officer was one of the first Methodists in the 
United Colonies (or States); "whilst at New York he commenced 
preaching, generally clothed in his military dress." 

The other churches have all been erected since 1843. Easton is 
well supplied with both public and private institutions for the ad- 
vancement of education ; to the late Governor George Wolf, a resi- 
dent of Easton at the time of his election to that office, are the 
citizens of Pennsylvania indebted for the liberal system of educa- 



132 E ASTON. 

tion they are now enjoying. The first school-house, as we have 
before stated, was erected in Easton, in 1755 ; the difficulties and 
trials attending its erection are fully given on page 66 of this work. 
This building was sufficiently large to accommodate all the scholars 
for many years. In 1794, the Academy (still standing on the hill 
by that name) was erected ; a number of private schools and semi- 
naries have been established since that time, some of which have 
proved eminently successful. There are but few young men in 
and around Easton, that have not attended the excellent boarding 
and day school of the Rev. John Vanderveer, which for many 
years was considered the stepping-stone to the Lafayette College. 
In 1850, the Opheleton Female Seminary was established, E. Dean 
Dow, A. M., as Principal; a large, well-arranged and tasteful edifice, 
surrounded by ample grounds, handsomely laid out and orna- 
mented, was erected in 1852 ; for some cause this institution was 
discontinued in 1856, and the property purchased by Hon. P. S. 
Michler, who has since converted the building into a private resi- 
dence. 

Below we give an outline history of the Easton Academy, it 
being for many years the only building in the place devoted to the 
purpose of education. 

On 21st April, 1794, the trustees of the Union Academy of the 
borough of Easton were incorporated under the certificate of the 
Attorney-General and the Judges of the Supreme Court, agreeably 
to the articles of association, drafted by Samuel Sitgreaves, Esq. 
By these articles the affairs of the corporation were to be managed 
by fifteen trustees, five of whom to be of the German Lutheran, 
and five of the German Reformed denominations, and the ministers 
of those congregations, in the borough of Easton, always to be 
members of the board of trustees. After the election, five trustees 
were to be annually elected to serve three years, preserving the pro- 
portions of the religious denominations before stated. The school- 
house was erected in the same year, about $1800 having been sub- 
scribed by the citizens, and the trustees having taken possession of 



UNION ACADEMY. 133 

the vacant lot on Fermor Street between Church Alley and Spring 
Garden Street. 

As early as 1796 steps were taken to obtain from the proprie- 
taries a title for the lots. In 1800 Mr. Butler, the agent for the 
proprietaries,* having expressed a willingness to convey the five 
lots (now constituting the Academy property) for the use of the 
schools of the Institution, Mr. Christian Bixler was authorized and 
requested by the trustees to contract with him for those lots, on 
the best terms he could obtain, and take the deed in his own name; 
he having, with a spirit of liberality, signified his consent to ad- 
vance the money which should be necessary, and execute the de- 
claration of trust, to secure the trustees in the title, and indemnify 
Mr. Bixler for his advance of money. Accordingly, on the 6th of 
February, 1800, John Penn and Eichard Penn, by their attorney 
Edmund Physic, conveyed the five lots, Nos. 26, 28, 30, 32, and 
34, to Christian Bixler in fee ; and on the 21st of March, 1800, 
Mr. Bixler executed the declaration of trust proposed. On the 
31st of July, 1805, Christian Bixler and wife conveyed the pre- 
mises to " the trustees of the Union Academy of the Borough of 
Easton, in the county of Northampton," their successors and as- 
signs forever. 

There were repeatedly subscriptions taken up, and the legisla- 
ture voted the usual appropriation of $2000 to the academy as a 
county institution. After a considerable lapse of time, the elec- 
tions of trustees were not regularly attended to ; and in the year 

* In 1800, when Mr. Butler was at Easton, the collection of the proprietary's 
rents occasioned a great disturbance in the town ; many of the inhabitants who 
owned lots had never heard of any rent being due on their property, and therefore 
were not prepared to pay the sums demanded of them. Their displeasure broke 
out in threatening language to Mr. Butler, and at one time, by a public demonstra- 
tion of it, by making him in effigy and marching through the streets with it ac- 
companied by drum and fife, proceeding with the same to the top of Mount Ida 
(also called Mount Washington), and there publicly burning the effigy amidst the 
imprecations of the people who were present. 

Mr. Butler had collected at various places about $40,000, with which he ab- 
sconded, the proprietaries losing the entire amount. 



134 EASTON. 

1834:, on examination, it was discovered they had been entirely 
neglected from the year 1826, and there had been no meeting of 
the board of trustees after 1827. In this condition of things the 
town council took up the matter and unanimously passed a resolu- 
tion on the 9th of Januar} 7 , 1834 : — 

That they believe the charter of the Union Academy was for- 
feited in consequence of a failure for some time to elect trustees, 
agreeably to the charter of incorporation ; that the academy build- 
ing and premises were suffering for want of proper attention, and 
the occupants for some time had not paid their rents ; and resolved 
to present a petition to the legislature, praying that the property 
might be vested in the corporation of the borough of Easton, to 
be used for the purposes of education in said borough, and that 
the corporation be authorized to collect arrearages of rent due for 
said premises. 

The matter v/as not definitely acted on by the legislature until 
the next session, when, on April 14th, 1835, an act was passed 
declaring the charter of the trustees forfeited, and vesting their 
right, title, and interest in the borough of Easton. 

Pursuant to this act the corporation proceeded to erect a wall on 
Ferraor Street, preparatory to the improvement of the property, 
and with a view to grade and ornament the same, by planting trees 
and fitting it up. Subsequently the wall was taken down and the 
materials used elsewhere, and a considerable part of the south side 
of the hill dug off, and carted away, to fill up the foot of Ferry 
Street, which had been washed away by the breaking out of the 
dam in 1840. 

The following history of the public school system in the borough 
of Easton was obligingly furnished by E. T. Stewart, Esq. : — 

Public Schools of Easton. — The educational system of this borough has met 
the fondest expectations of its friends. But a few years have elapsed since its in- 
troduction ; then it was an experiment, now the most cheering results follow in its 
train. The efficiency of the common school no longer remains an unsolved prob- 
lem. It is a truth that has been fully demonstrated at every fireside in the district. 

The common school system was established here in 1834, under most unfavorable 



THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 135 

auspices. Strenuous efforts were made to crush it in its incipiency. The opposi- 
tion prevalent in the early stages of its existence, did not abate, as the utility of 
the system developed itself. The common school, unprotected save by legislative 
enactment, during nineteen years, had but a nominal existence only. Viewed 
as an institution of charity, the patronage of which was regarded as a mark of 
indigence, the wealthy not only refused it their support, but encouraged the 
establishment of private schools. These schools nourished whilst the public 
schools awakened no interest, and exhibited no marked advantage by way of 
mental development. The question may be asked, what were the causes of this 
apathy ? A variety of answers may be given. 

First. There was no uniformity in school-books. 

Second. There was no regular method of instruction. 

Third. There was no adjustment of classes. 

Fourth. There was no classification of schools. 

Fifth. The teachers were employed on the ground of favoritism or on the prin- 
ciple of alms-giving, rather than that of qualification, mental and moral. 

Sixth. The importance of appropriate school edifices had been a matter of no 
consideration. Prior to the year 1853, no portion of the public school fund had 
been employed in the erection of buildings. Of those in use, the old academy was 
the only one originally designed for school purposes. This was built in 1794, 
many years prior to the passage of the common school law, and by voluntary 
contribution. 

Seventh. The importance of ventilation had not been cousidered. The school- 
rooms were in a condition that jeopardized the health of the pupils. 

Eighth. The School Board patronized private schools. Their official actions 
seemed to be merely to meet the requirements of the law, while their preferences 
were in an opposite direction. 

A new era dawned. In 1853 the present system was adopted. The classification 
and arrangement of the schools were made to conform, as far as practicable, to the 
plan pursued in the city of Philadelphia. The plan adopted has been rigorously 
applied. The general classification of the schools, the internal arrangement of each 
school, and the course of study, were all made in conformity to the law of progres- 
sion. We note the following as some of the fruits of the system. 

1st. The effect on the public mind. Public opinion has been revolutionized. 
Animosity has, if not wholly destroyed, been allayed. The citizens feel proud of 
their educational advantages. The public school is regarded as a powerful instru- 
ment in determining the future destiny of the borough. It no longer needs the 
law alone for its support. It is upheld by the arms of an intelligent community. 
It has the vigilant guardianship of an interested people. Hence the patronage is 
universal. Select schools scarcely exist. The crowd of children representative of 
every social grade, that throngs the public schools of this place, is indicative of the 
confidence manifested in the system. 



186 EASTON". 

2d. The effect upon the teachers. The standard of teaching has been elevated. 
A drone can get no employment here. Appointments are made on the basis of 
qualification, and not on that of favoritism or poverty. Self-culture has been thus 
promoted. The system provides for the promotion of teachers, upon the condition 
of progress as exhibited by increased efficiency. The interest thus awakened in 
the teacher has given life to the system. The zeal of the teacher has been in- 
fused into his pupils. The culture of the preceptor is shown in the advancement 
of his scholars. 

3d. The effect upon the pupils. The principle of progression is applied as well 
in the advancement of pupils as in the promotion of teachers. The object is to elicit 
personal force. Individuality of character is carefully studied. The great aim is 
to train each pupil for the particular avocation in life to which he seems adapted. 

There is a regular gradation from the primary department to the High School. 
The latter is the ultimatum of advancement. The design of this school is known 
to the public. It is the converging point of all the previous instruction in the 
other public schools ; without it, the system would be incomplete. 

It is the purpose of the directors to combine in this school all the facilities for 
acquiring a complete education. 

Hitherto private schools have been the only source for instruction in the higher 
branches of an education. Our common schools had confined themselves to the 
primary and elementary branches ; now, however, they look to a wider sphere, 
and we know of no more inviting field than our own borough. This institution is 
deserving of public patronage. There is nothing inherently superficial in the 
public school system. That it has not been adapted to all the educational needs 
of society, has not been because of inherent inefficiency, but because there has 
been no demand of wider and higher culture. Thus a healthful moral influence 
has been checked, and our public schools have been shorn of their legitimate 
power, or denied the exercise of their real strength. The cry of oppressive taxation 
has always deterred the school directors from making that liberal provision which 
the necessities of the population really required. 

Now the people are beginning to look at the subject in its proper light. All 
classes of society have a wider educational horizon. The common mind is in- 
quisitive. The struggles of the age are leading men into an examination of the 
foundation of rights and duties. The domains of science, philosophy, and polite 
literature invite the children of toil to their rewards. Labor and science have 
joined hands. The school-house has become the college. The children of the 
day-laborer may expect attainments equal to the acquisitions of the most favored 
sons of wealth. This is republicanism practicalized. It is equality applied to 
one of the vital interests of the State. It is the true philosophy of progress. It 
is the only process by which the indigent and ignorant can be brought upon the 
basis of equality. 

The public school system has been more fully developed since the establish- 
ment of a borough superintendency. This is to be accounted for because of the 



LAFAYETTE COLLEGE. 137 

immediate intercourse between the superintendent and the teacher. The super- 
intendent can visit the schools each day. He can see defects, and apply the 
necessary remedy ; can reprove the unfaithful teacher, and counsel unruly scho- 
lars. He can protect the pupil from any injustice on the part of the teacher, 
and can advise parents as to the best methods of securing the progress of their 
children. In fine, he can closely watch the workings of the machinery, no matter 
how complex, and keep it in regular motion, and accelerate that motion. 

The following are the statistics from the records of the Borough Superintend- 
ent : — 











DIRECTORS. 


Number of schools . 


30 


Dr. Traill Green, President. 


n 




pupils 


1,825 


Adam Yohe, Secretary. 


a 




teachers . 


34 


Geo. Slabach. 


u 




public examinations 


2 


Henry S. Carey. 


a 




school edifices . 


5 


Edward T. Stewart. 


a 




district school rooms 


27 


Robert T. Horn. 


a 




months taught per 




Owen Reich. 






year 


10 


John Micke. 




w. 


W. COTTINGHAM, 




Samuel M. Cummings. 






Borough Superintendent. 


Peter Bellis, Treasurer. 



Lafayette College is located on one of the most beautiful 
hills that overlooks the borough. The edifice is 112 feet long 
by 44 feet deep, containing in all 60 rooms, and has received the 
name of Brainard Hall, in memory of that devoted missionary, 
who labored among the Indians in the cause of religion in this 
region.* There are two literary societies, the Washington and 
Franklin, and a missionary society, named the Brainard Mission- 
ary Society, attached to this college. The college at the present 
time numbers some 85 students, and since its erection many have 
graduated who are now adorning the professions of law, physic, 
and divinity. The students are enabled to receive at this college 
as thorough an education as at any other collegiate institution. 
The faculty is composed of men of talent and learning, and the 
institution has assumed an honorable rank among her elder com- 
petitors. We are indebted to a gentleman connected with the 
college for the following account of that institution: — 

* Brainard, in 1744 and 1745, lived in a cabin erected by himself near the junc- 
tion of Martin's Creek with the river Delaware, in Lower Mount Bethel Township, 
on lands now owned by the heirs of Mr. Baker. 



138 EASTON. 

Lafayette College owes its origin to the liberality and enlightened zeal for sound 
learning of some prominent citizens of Easton in the year 1824. Pursuant to a 
public notice a meeting of the citizens was held on Monday, 27th December, of that 
year, at the Easton Hotel, then kept by William White. The late Col. McKeen was 
appointed chairman, and Mr. Jacob Weygandt secretary. After full discussion, 
it was resolved, "That it is expedient to establish at this place an institution 
of learning in which the dead languages and the various branches of education 
and science usually taught in colleges, together with the French and German 
languages, civil and military engineering and military tactics, shall be taught." 
It was further resolved, " That, as a testimony of respect for the talents, virtues, 
and signal services of Gen. Lafayette in the great cause of freedom, the said 
institution be named Lafayette College." A committee was then appointed, con- 
sisting of Hon. James M. Porter, Hon. Joel Jones, and Jacob Wagener, Esq., to draft 
a memorial to the legislature for a charter of incorporation and for legislative aid. 
In their memorial the committee discuss at some length the influence of liberal 
education in perpetuating our national freedom, and then unfold the plan upon 
which the institution was designed to be conducted. It is worthy of remark that 
they lay great stress upon thorough instruction in the English, which they say is 
"the language most neglected in our seminaries of learning." And, in this con- 
nection, we may say that to Lafayette College belongs the honor of first establish- 
ing in this country a Professorship of the English Language, and of teaching the 
great English classics in the same critical and philological manner as the great 
Greek and Latin authors are studied.* 

The charter of the college, obtained March 9, 1826, nominated the following 
gentlemen as Trustees : Robert Patterson, John Hare Powell, Peter A. Browne, 
Andrew M. Prevost, Benjamin Tilghman, Silas E. Weir, and John M. Scott, of 
Philadelphia; Samuel Sitgreaves, Thomas McKeen, Peter Miller, Philip Mixsell, 
Jacob Weygandt, Jr., John Bowes, James M. Porter, Christian J. Hutter, Jacob 
Wagener, Geo. M. Barnet, John Carey, Jr., Wm. Shouse, Peter Ihrie, Jr., John 
Worman, Joel Jones, John R. Lattimore, Thomas J. Rogers, Joseph R. Swift, Geo. G. 
Howell, Peter S. Michler, Jesse M. Howell, Philip H. Mattes, Geo. Hess, Jr., Jacob 
Kern, Geo. Weber, and Anthony McCoy, of Northampton County ; Walter C. Liv- 
ingston, of Lehigh County ; and Wm. Long, of Bucks County. 

At their first meeting, on the 15th of May following, the Board elected the fol- 
lowing officers : — 

Hon. James M. Porter, President. 

Hon. Joel Jones, Secretary. 

Col. Thomas McKeen, Treasurer. 



* Mr. Heston, of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, in opposing the 
bill to incorporate Lafayette College, objected to the study of the dead languages, 
the knowledge of which, he contended, would not furnish a single idea that could 
not be communicated in English ; and, said he, " it adds no more to scientific 
knowledge than the croaking of frogs." 



LAFAYETTE COLLEGE. 139 

Proper measures were taken to secure a President and Faculty, and to raise 
funds for the erection of suitable buildings, and for the purchase of apparatus, 
library, &c. It was not, however, until March, 1832, that the college duties were 
actually commenced, under the presidency of the Rev. Dr. George Junkin, the 
teaching of military tactics being dispensed with by a supplement to the charter, 
granted by the legislature April 7. On the evening of October 10 the first public 
exercises of the students were held, in the presence of a crowded assembly, at the 
Presbyterian church. 

The building first occupied by the students was on the south side of the Lehigh, 
near the river, and the property of Mr. Christopher Middler. The grounds now 
occupied by the college were purchased from William Snyder and John Shick, 
April 12, 1833, and Messrs. James M. Porter, Peter S. Michler, Geo. Hess, Jr., and 
Jesse M. Howell were appointed a committee to erect suitable buildings. The 
corner-stone of the main college edifice was laid on the following 4th of July, in 
the presence of an immense crowd of citizens ; the military and various civic 
societies joining in the ceremonies. An address was made upon the hill by the 
Rev. B. C. Wolf, and afterwards an oration was delivered in the German Reformed 
church, by the Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, of Philadelphia. When the building 
was completed, Dr. Junkin was formally inaugurated President in the College 
Hall, May 1, 1834. On this occasion addresses were delivered by Dr. Junkin and 
the Hon. J. M. Porter, President of the Board of Trustees. 

The first regular commencement was held in September, 1836, when the follow- 
ing students, having completed the full college studies, received their degree of 
A. B., viz: George W. Kidd, David Moore, James B. Ramsey, and Nathaniel B. 
Smithers. 

Since this time about 700 students have attended upon the instructions of the 
college, of whom 235 have completed the full course and received their diplomas. 

After Dr. Junkin's resignation, Dec. 25, 1840, the College was under the Presi- 
dency of the Rev. Dr. J. W. Yeomans till Sept. 7, 1844, when Dr. Junkin was 
again elected President. He was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. C. W. Nassau in 
1849. 

Oct. 30, 1849, the College was placed under the care and patronage of the Synod 
of Philadelphia (Presbyterian), though students of every denomination have, as 
before, an equal right to all its privileges. The Rev. Dr. D. V. McClean, being 
nominated by the Synod, was elected to the Presidency by the Trustees, Oct. 18, 
1850. The present President, Rev. G. Wilson McPhail, D. D., was inaugurated 
July, 28, 1858. The following gentlemen comprise the faculty at present. 

Rev. G. Wilson McPhail, D. D., President, and Professor of Mental and Moral 
Philosophy. 

James H. Coffin, A. M., Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy. 

Traill Green, M. D., Professor of Chemistry. 

Rev. William C. Cattell, A. M., Professor of the Latin and Greek Languages. 



140 EASTON". 

Francis A. March, A. M., Professor of the English Language, and Lecturer on 
Comparative Philology. 

Rev. John Leaman, A. M., M. D., Professor of Natural History, and Lecturer on 
Human Anatomy and Physiology. 

Rev. James R. Eckard, D. D., Professor of Rhetoric. 

Charles Corss, A. M., Tutor. 

At the present time there are six weekly and two daily papers 
published in Easton, viz. 

WEEKLY PAPERS. 

Democrat and Argus, W. H. Hutter, Editor. 

Easton Sentinel, D. H. Nieman, " 

Easton Journal, J. P. Hetrich, " 

Independent Democrat (German), Josiah Cole, " 

American Free Press, W. H. Brown, " 

Northampton Correspondent, A. H. Sensemen, " 

DAILY PAPERS. 

Daily Evening Express, Davis & Eichman, Editors. 

Daily Morning Times, S. P. Higgins, Editor. 

The weekly publications have a combined circulation of be- 
tween 6000 and 8000 copies, circulation of the dailies between 
1800 and 2000 copies. 

In 1793, Jacob Weygandt commenced the publication of a German news- 
paper at Easton (a very diminutive sheet), with a very limited number of sub- 
scribers, not exceeding three hundred per week during the first year. As a large 
portion of the inhabitants of the county were unable to read their own or any 
other language, one newspaper generally served a whole neighborhood of three or 
four miles in circuit ; the paper was sent from house to house, and generally read 
by the schoolmaster, if there chanced to be one. Very few of the Germans were 
able to write their own names. The writer has observed on petitions to the county 
courts in 1760-70, that nearly one-half of the signers made the X, and one instrument 
then presented with nine names, has seven of these insignas of ignorance, and the 
remaining two so execrably written as to be barely intelligible. In the Sessions office 
is a paper, professedly an inventory, the spelling so strange that no other person than 
the learned justice of the peace (D. Brown) himself, who wrote it, can make out 
the meaning ; one word is therein spelt, "kaughy bud" for coffee pot. To impute to 
the present generation such errors would, as a general thing, be wrong. The early 
settlers were more expert with the grubbing hoe than the pen ; and they had not 
become a reading people. Well patronized journals are only found in those com- 



PUBLIC LIBRARY — LITERARY SOCIETIES, ETC. 141 

munities where intelligence and enterprise abound. There is no surer test of 
general thrift than this. The presence of a newspaper in a family is a proof that 
the seeds of education have been sown therein ; and where education has germi- 
nated, good fruit, with rare exceptions, is the product. 

Mr. Christian J. Hutter commenced the publication of a German newspaper, the 
"Northampton Correspondent," in 1801, and on first July, 1817, the first number 
of the English newspaper called the " Centinel," was published by Christian J. 
Hutter & Son. Previous to the commencement of the Centinel, by Mr. Hutter & 
Son, they had a paper, the People's Instructor, being both English and German, 
one column being in German, and the translation in English in another column, 
and thus alternately throughout the whole sheet. 

In 1799, J. Longcope published an English paper, called "The American 
Eagle ;" from want of patronage, it was discontinued in a few years. So also, Hugh 
Ross became a publisher of an English paper called the Exposition, in 1822 ; this 
also, soon expired. In 1S19 the Mountaineer was published, but could not sustain 
itself for any length of time. The Easton Argus, an English paper commenced 
during the anti-masonic excitement, by Innes & Weygandt, has for many years 
been published by Mr. W. H. Hutter (the present postmaster). The Easton Whig 
(lately changed to the Easton Journal), has been published for more than thirty 
years by Josiah P. Hetrich. 

Easton has also a public library, founded in 1811, containing 
nearly 5000 volumes in the various departments of literature, a 
Dime Savings Bank, Building and Loan Association, Young 
Men's Christian Association, several Literary Societies, Amateur 
Musical Association, Missionary and Belief Societies, Bible So- 
cieties, Beneficial Association, Masons, Sons of Malta, Odd Fel- 
lows, Sons of Temperance, American Mechanics, Boating Clubs, 
Chess Clubs, Cricket Clubs, &c. 

Easton now boasts one of the best bands of music in the State 
("Pomp's Cornet Band"), and will soon possess another (the Jaeger 
Band), which promises to be no mean rival of the first named. 
Pomp's Cornet Band is one of the oldest musical organizations in 
the country, and as it is considered one of the institutions of the 
place, we will give a short sketch of its rise and progress. The 
first band or musical association ever formed in Easton, was that 
known as the "Artillerist Band," which was organized in 1818, 
and attached to the company from which it took its name, com- 
manded by Capt. William E. Sitgreaves. The leader of the band, 



142 



EASTON. 



Mr. John D. Weiss, of Bethlehem, was a musician of considerable 
ability, whose instructions were attended with eminent success, 
and soon wrought from the material afforded him, an organization 
which Easton might be proud of to-day. No doubt many of the 
elderly citizens remember, with pleasure, the performance of the 
first band, and will revert to the incidents which this allusion to 
the organization will naturally call up, with a feeling of heartfelt 
satisfaction. We are all of us more or less imbued with a love for 
the "things of old," and can readily appreciate the chastened and 
mournful fondness with which those who composed that organiza- 
tion, look back to the meetings and parades of " their bandy 
The roll list comprised the following names : — 



John D. Weiss, Leader, 
Peter Pomp, 
Joseph Herster, 
John Branham, 
Abraham Miller, 
Jonathan Lick, 
Frederick Mattes, 
Jacob Wilhelm, 
John A. Everitt, 



Isaac Levan, 
Joseph Howell, 
John Tilton, 
William Bixler, 
Geo. Luckenbach, 
Charles E. Wolf, 
David Nyce, 
Henry Wagener, 
Joseph Snyder, 



Wm. Bittenbender, 
John Heckman, 
Thos. E. Weygandt, 
George Sigman, 
Jacob Sigman, 
Samuel Yohe, 
James Doran, 
Melchior Horn. 



On July 1, 1833, the name of this organization was changed to 
the Citizens' Band, when Peter Pomp became Leader. The follow- 
ing members then composed the band : — 



P. Pomp, Leader, 
C. Kitchen, 
Geo. Luckenbach, 
W. H. Pomp, 
Philip Pv-eichard, 
Frederick Seitz, 
H. E. Wolf, 



Jacob Noll, 
James Doran, 
B. S. Shultz, 
J. M. Hampton, 
David Barnet, 
Jos. Snyder, 
Jacob Wilhelm, 



George Sigman, 
F. L. Crane, 
Samuel Wilhelm, 
Andrew T. Sigman, 
Timothy Rosmus, 
Benjamin F. Stem. 



In the year 1838 the name was changed to the Philharmonic 
Society. In 1842 all wood instruments were dispensed with in 
the band, and brass substituted in their place. The name was then 
changed to the Easton Brass Band ; Wm. H. Pomp, Leader ; Peter 
Pomp, Conductor. In 1852 the name was again changed to the 



MILITARY FORCE — FIRE DEPARTMENT. 143 

one by which they are now known, viz., Pomp's Cornet Band, and 
German silver instruments substituted for brass. They now num- 
ber 20 active members; W. H. Pomp, Leader; Prof. Thos. Coates, 
Conductor. 

The military force of Easton at the present time consists of 
four companies, together numbering about 200 men, rank and file. 
The following are the names of the companies : — 



Easton Artillerists 
National Guards 
National Grays 
Easton Jaegers 



Capt. Jacob Dachradt. 
" J. E. Titus. 
" B. Clemmens. 
" Chas. Glantz. 



We had prepared a lengthy account of the various military or- 
ganizations formed in Easton since the revolution, but our space 
will not allow its insertion. 

The fire department of Easton at the present time consists of 
five companies, viz : Humane Hose Company, No. 1 ; Phcenis 
Hose, No. 2 ; Washington Hose, No. 3 ; South wark Hose, No. 4 ; 
Keystone Hose, No. 5 ; having in all about 250 active members. 
These companies have divided among them eight hose-carriages, 
four suction-engines, and about 6,000 feet of hose. 

The first fire company was organized in Easton January 19, 
1807, and went into service March 7 of the same year. The com- 
pany was composed of 35 citizens of Easton, under the title of the 
Easton Humane Fire Company. Their engine was built in 1797, 
by Philip Mason, of Philadelphia, and is still in possession of the 
company. All of their hose, which consisted of but four sections, 
was carried in a square basket between the levers of the engine. 
This was entirely destroyed at the fire of Messrs. Kutz, Meixell, 
and others, in Church Alley, in 1831. The following is a list of 
the members composing this company, all of whom, it appears, 
held some office : — 

Engine Directors — Naphtali Hart, William Barnet. 
Inspector — Nicholas Traxsell. 

Rowmen — John Herster, John Barnet, Henry Osterstock. 
Guardmen — Michael Hart, Christopher Hartzell. 



144 EASTON. 

Axemen — John Traxsell, John Carey, Jr., Jacob Grotz, William Richer. 

Laddermen — Thos. Sebring, Abm. Horn, Jr., Frederick Mattes, Jos. Dawes, John 
Yohe, John Nagle. 

Hoohmen — George Ihrie, Samuel Findley, Abram Grotz, Valentine Weaver. 

Engineers — Nicholas Kern, Jacob Hart, John Trittenbach, Henry Eyreman, Abm. 
Force, Chas. Hay, Adam Heckman, Fred. Wilhelm, Benj. Green, John Young, Jr., 
Abm. Osterstock, Michael Seip, Geo. Traxsell, John Horn, John Heckman, and 
Conrad Rohn. 

As there were no water- works at that time, the engines were 
filled with water that was pumped from the wells or carried from 
the river in buckets. Every family was compelled to provide 
itself with a certain number of leather fire-buckets, which were 
used for this purpose. In case of fire, a row or line of people was 
formed from the river to the engine, for the purpose of "passing 
along the water" to fill the engine. The person who stood next 
the river would fill the buckets and pass them to the person who 
stood next to him, this person passing them to the next, and so on 
until they had reached the engine and the water was disposed of. 
Generally there were two rows formed, one of men and one of 
women, the men passing the filled buckets from the river to the 
engine, and the women returning the empty ones. In this manner 
there were sometimes a hundred or more buckets in continual 
motion. The men who attended to the forming of these rows 
were called Eowmen. 

We extract the following account from an Easton paper, of a 
fire that occurred there on December 13, 1819 : — 

" Miss Simon, daughter of John Simon, stood in the Lehigh River, notwithstand- 
ing the cold and frozen state of the water, and dipped the same into buckets for 
a considerable length of time, which was conveyed by the line to the engines. 
Mrs. and Misses Sitgreaves, Erb, Cooper, Spering, Moore, Hays, Barnet, Young, and 
others, fell into the ranks forming the line to the river. The two engines were 
thus supplied." 

In the year 1830 the number of fire companies was the same 
as at present. The companies then were the Humane, Phoenix, 
Northampton, Columbia, and Neptune Engine Companies, all of 
which have been disbanded, with the exception of the first two 




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s v 



*T 



-r 1 






mw\ a \$\ m o Mmw\LLL o 



7 0-C^Zs? 






THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 145 

mentioned. The companies in Easton at present are all hose com- 
panies, their engines being a matter of secondary consideration, as 
they are seldom used within the borough, the force of water from 
the reservoir (which is about 200 feet above the town) being suffi- 
cient to throw a stream of water over the highest buildings. The 
firemen of Easton are not confined to the town alone in their 
endeavors to save property, but are ever on the alert to give their 
assistance to the neighboring towns and surrounding country in 
case of need. A case occurred, some years ago, when the Phoenix 
Hose Company ran with their carriage to the neighboring town of 
Nazareth, a distance of seven miles. 

Each of the companies, in addition to the apparatus placed in 
their care by the borough authorities, have a carriage paid for by 
themselves, which is used only on parades. On these carriages are 
lavished the richest ornaments of gold and silver, those of the 
Humane and Phoenix companies costing about $3,000 each. The 
companies have each a meeting-room, splendidly furnished, pro- 
vided with libraries containing some of the standard works, and 
files of the daily and weekly newspapers of Easton, Philadelphia, 
and New York. The Phoenix company have lately erected a bell- 
tower, in which they have placed a large bell for the purpose of 
giving the fire alarm. There are few towns in any section of the 
country that can boast of a better disciplined fire department, 
handsomer apparatus, more comfortable quarters, or more gentle- 
manly members, than there is in the borough of Easton. 

Easton owes its original and continued prosperity, in a great 
measure, to the water powers of the Bushkill Creek, upon which 
are situated over a dozen milling and distilling establishments 
within the borough limits. Easton was for many years the mar- 
ket, not only for the grain raised in the immediate neighborhood, 
but also for that from the Wyoming Valley and Warren and 
Sussex Counties of New Jersey. A traveller who visited Wilkes- 
barre in 1783, says that the "farmers there exchanged their grain 
at Easton for whiskey." The farmers from a distance generally 
awaited good sledding in winter, as the most convenient manner 
10 



146 EASTON. 

of transportation. Very frequently the streets of Easton pre- 
sented a very busy scene. Five hundred sleds either standing in 
the streets or passing through them, was an ordinary occurrence, 
and sometimes from fifteen to twenty thousand bushels of grain 
were received by the merchants in one day. The mills and store- 
houses were crowded, and ofttimes overloaded, with their pre- 
cious burden. From thirty-five thousand barrels of flour sent to 
Philadelphia in 1785, it increased to upwards of one hundred 
thousand barrels; and in 1833 a correspondent of the Philadel- 
phia Commercial Herald stated that, "besides the amount of corn 
shipped whole, and of rye and corn manufactured into whiskey, 
there were about two hundred thousand barrels of wheat and rye 
flour and corn meal sent to market per annum from Easton." The 
grain from the Susquehanna by degrees found other channels. 
The opening of canals and railroads has likewise contributed to 
divert the trade, and at the present time, notwithstanding the cul- 
ture of wheat in the present county has, within the last twenty or 
thirty years, nearly doubled, the actual number of barrels of flour 
sent to the markets of Philadelphia and New York has decreased 
very materially, partially owing to the greater home consumption 
by the increase of various manufacturing establishments. Besides 
the milling and mercantile business of Easton, there is a large 
number of mechanics in the various trades and callings made 
necessary by the wants of civilized life, who, as a general thing, 
have done a large and profitable business, many of whom have 
acquired wealth and independence. There is, at the present time, 
a large number of manufacturing establishments in Easton, many 
of which are doing an extensive and remunerating business. The 
majority of these establishments have been started since the com- 
pletion of the different lines of railway to the town. The follow- 
ing is a list of the principal manufacturing establishments in 
Easton : — 

Two iron and brass foundries. Davis & Co. ; George Barnet. 
One iron railing and stove manufactory. W. B. Harmany. 
One steam forge. Bemple & Co. 



MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 147 

Two steam planing-mills. Deshler & Brother ; E. & W. Keller. 

One steam sash, and blind factory. Jno. Lesher. 

Two soap and candle manufactories. J. Hoffman ; J. Seigert. 

One steam barrel factory. H. Young & Co. 

One iron axle manufactory. Rinck, Semple & Co. 

Two steam rope manufactories. Rinck & Co. ; Hilliard, Transue & Co. 

One alcohol manufactory. J. Oliver. 

One glue factory. S. Sandt & Co. 

One vinegar manufactory. McClintock & Clark. 

One camphene manufactory. Semple & Brother. 

Two saw-mills. David Butz ; J. Bachman. 

Three earriage manufactories. J. E. Abright ; C. Dudley ; F. Lerch. 

Two tanneries. J. Fulmer ; P. Snyder. 

One millstone manufactory. A. Adams. 

One agricultural implements. Minnick & Co. 

One spoke factory. Thos. Pomp. 

Two steam brick manufactories. W. Lescher ; F. Gwinner. 

Two boat building establishments. Thos. Bishop ; J. Metier. 

One oil mill. David D. Wagener. 

Four breweries. Seitz & Sons ; Glantz & Keubler ; Kohl & Beans ; Take & Veile. 

Two bottling establishments. Seitz & Brother ; J. Steel. 

Seven flour and grist-mills. J. Carpenter; J. Crotzinger ; D. Butz (two); S. 
Yohe ; D. Wagener ; J. Walter. 

Nine distilleries. J. Thompson ; S. Yohe ; W. Barnet ; A. Herster ; J. Herster ; 
J. Oliver ; T. Michler ; Wagner. 

It was our intention to give a minute description of each of the 
above manufacturing establishments, but have been unable to 
obtain the necessary information, from authentic sources, in proper 
time for insertion. 

The distilleries in Easton consume about 250,000 bushels of 
grain yearly, and manufacture and send to market during that 
time about 900,000 gallons of whiskey. 

The location of Easton as a manufacturing town is without a 
rival outside of the Lehigh Valley. Here are centred, within a 
circle of a few thousand feet, the Delaware and Lehigh Eivers, the 
Bushkill Creek, the Central Eailroad of New Jersey and the 
Morris Canal to New York, the Belvidere Delaware Eailroad and 
Delaware Canal to Philadelphia, and the Lehigh Valley Eailroad 
and Lehigh Canal to Mauch Chunk, White Haven, &c; thus 



148 EASTON. 

affording every facility to the manufacturer for obtaining iron and 
zinc ore, coal, &c, direct from the mines, and sending his manu- 
factures to either of the cities via railroad or canal. What is said 
of Easton in this respect is applicable to the other towns in the 
Lehigh Yalley, as they all have the same facilities. The Lehigh 
Valley, comparatively speaking, was but little known previous to 
the completion of the different lines of railway to Easton ; and 
even then but few strangers ventured further than Easton, Beth- 
lehem, or Allentown. Philadelphia alone appeared to enjoy the 
whole trade with this region of country for many years. The first 
public conveyance between Philadelphia and what is now known 
as the Lehigh Valley, was a weekly stage between that city and 
Bethlehem, which commenced running in 1792 ;* all intercourse 
with the city previous to that time had been on horseback. 

In 1796, John Nicholas commenced running a weekly stage to 
Philadelphia from Easton ; the arrival of the stage at Easton on its 
first return trip, attracted the attention of the Eastonians as much 
as the railroad since, yet we have no information left us that a 
procession formed, attended by music and flags, escorting the ad- 
venturous proprietor through the town, or that speeches were 
made ; but we are informed (by Mr. Geo. Troxell), that upon hear- 
ing the sound of the post-horn from the top of the hill on the 
south side of the Lehigh, all the inhabitants, both great and small, 
old and young, hastened to Lehigh Ferry, each one for himself, to 
see this great progress of the age, hurrah succeeding hurrah, went 
up from the assembled multitude. Mr. Nicholas advertised his 
great undertaking in a Philadelphia newspaper, asking for patron- 
age from the public, adding, " Packages and bundles carefully at- 
tended to and delivered." 

Previous to the completion of the canal, the merchandise was 
carried between the two places by Durham boats in the summer, 
and by wagons during the winter. Several attempts had been 

* The first post-offices in Northampton County were established at Bethlehem 
and Easton in July, 1792. The first year's receipts in Easton were $33, and at 
Bethlehem $138 — the Easton mail came by way of Bethlehem. 



ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST STEAMBOAT. 149 

made to navigate the Delaware with steamboats as far up as Easton, 
but the various attempts proved unsuccessful, until the year 1852, 
when the first steamboat, the "Maj. William Barnet," succeeded in 
reaching Easton after repeated trials, attended with great difficul- 
ties and dangers. This boat was about 150 feet in length, and flat 
bottomed — to suit the more shallow parts of the river. It was fur- 
nished up in good style, with all the necessary conveniences for 
travel. 

It made repeated trips between Easton and Lambertville, N. J., 
to which place the Belvidere Delaware Bailroad had been com- 
pleted at that time. After running for several months, and doing 
in that time a remunerating business, the enterprise was aban- 
doned, as the dangers attending the trip were considered too great. 
After this boat had been taken off, another steamboat, the " Eein- 
deer," from the Schuylkill Kiver, at Philadelphia, was brought to 
Easton, but after making a few trips was returned to Philadelphia. 
We extract the following account of the arrival of the first steam- 
boat at Easton, from the Easton Sentinel. 

The long talked about, and anxiously looked for steamboat, the " Major William. 
Barnet," arrived at this place from Lambertville, on Saturday afternoon about 5 
o'clock, March 12th, 1852. Her coming was almost unexpected. A rumor was 
current of an attempt on that day, but as there had previously been so many 
rumors of a similar character, it was scarcely credited. On Saturday morning, 
however, a telegraph dispatch was received from Mr. Joseph Barnet, saying she 
would be up that day. As a matter of course, the news spread, as if by magic, and 
soon the whole town was on the qui vive. 

On Friday afternoon Captain Young, the enterprising captain of the boat, run 
her from Lambertville to Black's Eddy, and back again, that testing her capacity 
to overcome Howell's Falls, at Centre Bridge, which she failed to pass last fall, when 
she first attempted to ascend the river to this place. On Saturday morning she 
left Lambertville at six o'clock, made halts at the several villages along the 
river, and sticking for about half an hour on a rock at Hull's Falls, which detained 
her arrival at this place until the time above stated. 

At about half past four o'clock she hove in sight. From the moment the boat 
reached the head of Phillipsburg falls, her speed was very much quickened, and 
came to shore about half way between the bridge and the Delaware Hotel. Judge 
Porter, on behalf of the authorities and citizens of Easton, welcomed Captain 
Young, his boat and passengers. To this Dr. Lilly, of Lambertville, responded. 



150 E ASTON. 

A procession was formed, attended by a large number of the citizens of Easton, and 
the officers and crew, and passengers, conducted to the American Hotel, where a 
collation had been prepared for them. 

On Monday and Tuesday the boat made quite a number of trips, running up the 
river about six or seven miles. It was a strange coincidence that the first steamboat 
that ever had reached Easton arrived on the very day that Northampton County 
became a centenarian. 

The next means of communication with New York and Phila- 
delphia, was effected by the completion of the New Jersey Central 
Eailroad, and Belvidere Delaware Eailroad. We give a full ac- 
count of the reception of the first trains over the roads at Easton, 
taken from the Easton Sentinel. 

The New Jersey Central Railroad was opened to Easton, according to previous 
notice, on Friday, July 2d, 1852, and the first train of cars arrived at Phillipsburg ? 
opposite to Easton, about two o'clock on that day. The cars left Elizabethtown at 
nine o'clock in the morning ; but in consequence of the numerous detentions along 
the road taking up delegations, the train did not arrive until the time above 
stated. There were no less than eight passenger cars attached to the engine, each 
of which contained some sixty passengers, among whom were several of the mem- 
bers of the corporations of New York, Newark, and Elizabethtown, quite a number 
of merchants and other business men of those places, and Dodworth's celebrated 
band of New York. On their arrival at Phillipsburg, they were met by the com- 
mittee of reception of the citizens and authorities of Easton, accompanied by the 
Easton Brass Band. Henry D. Maxwell, chairman of the committee, welcomed 
them in a few appropriate remarks, congratulating them upon the successful com- 
pletion of their enterprise, and invited them to visit, and partake of the hospitali- 
ties of the borough. This was responded to by Mr. Johnson, president of the road, 
who accepted the invitation. A procession consisting of the committee of invita- 
tion and reception, the reverend clergy, and the officers and members of the com- 
pany, with their guests, was then formed under the direction of Captain Samuel 
Yohe, and proceeded across the Delaware Bridge to the borough. Here they were 
received by our entire fire department, and thousands of our citizens, who joined 
in the procession, and moved on to the public square, where the general reception 
was to take place. During the moving of the procession, a salute of thirty-two 
guns was fired from Mount Jefferson, all the bells of the borough were rung, flags 
were displayed, and all kinds of manifestations of joy were exhibited by our 
people. 

A platform had been erected at the court-house, upon which the president and 
officers of the company, and other guests, among whom was Governor Ford, of New 
Jersey, were introduced to the Burgesses and Town Council- After which, in a few 



COMMUNICATION WITH NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA. 151 

appropriate and pertinent remarks, Judge Porter welcomed them to Easton, to 
which Mr. Johnson, the president of the road, responded. The guests were then 
conducted to the Odd Fellows' Hall, where a collation had heen prepared for them. 
After the good things with which the bountiful board was supplied, were properly 
discussed, Hon. J. M. Porter proposed the following toast. 

"The New Jersey Central Railroad Company — may their recompense he equal 
to their energy." 

This was drank with cheers, and responded to by Wm. E. Dodge on behalf of 
the Company. Toasts were drank, and speeches made by Andrew H. Reeder, 
Esq., Judge Narr, Charles King, Esq., J. P. Jackson, Erastus Brooks, and many 
others, until half past three o'clock, when the President of the Company gave 
notice that the time of their departure had arrived, and that they must return 
from whence they came. Three cheers were then given for New York, three for 
Pennsylvania, and three for New Jersey. The line was again formed, and, accom- 
panied by the committee of reception and the band, the guests were escorted back 
to the depot at Phillipsburg, which place they left at five o'clock, all seemingly 
delighted with the style with which they had been received and entertained by 
the good people of the " Forks of the Delaware." 

Thus ended a day, the events of which will ever be remembered by our citizens, 
and will be referred to with pride and satisfaction as an epoch at which a change 
in our communication with the world at large was consummated. 

We are now within four hours' ride of the great metropolis of our country, and 
an opportunity is offered, by easy and available access, to all who desire to enjoy 
the fresh and invigorating breezes that waft over our picturesque hills, and along 
our romantic rivers. 

On Friday, February 3, 1854, the long-talked-of and anxiously-awaited connec- 
tion of Easton and Philadelphia, by railroad, was consummated by the formal 
opening of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad from Lambertville, New Jersey, to 
Phillipsburg, opposite to this borough, on the east side of the Delaware River. 

The special train which brought the excursionists to our borough, numbered 
fifteen passenger cars, twelve of which were filled with Philadelphians, and the 
balance with citizens of New Jersey, among whom was the governor, heads of 
departments, and members of the legislature of that State ; numbering in all 
about one thousand persons. As the train neared our town, its approach was 
announced by the firing of cannon, the ringing of bells, and vociferous shouts of 
the multitude assembled at various points to greet and welcome the " iron horse," 
and the burden it was dragging along to the "Forks of the Delaware." 

At about half past one, the train arrived at the Phillipsburg depot, where a pro- 
cession was formed by the marshal, and escorted over the bridge by a committee 
— consisting of H. D. Maxwell, James M. Porter, J. N. Hutchinson, David Barnet, 
and Samuel Wetherill — who met them at Trenton, in the following order : — 

Philadelphia committee of arrangements, a band of music under the direction 



152 E ASTON". 

of Mr. Bayley, of the Walnut Street Theatre ; Governor, aides, and heads of the 
departments of New Jersey ; Mayor and Councils and district authorities of Phila- 
delphia ; invited guests of the Philadelphia delegation ; members of the legisla- 
ture of New Jersey; Mayor and Councils of Trenton; officers of the Belvidere 
Delaware, New Jersey Central, and Lehigh Valley Railroad Companies ; mer- 
chants aud business men of Philadelphia ; Councils of New Hope and Lambert- 
ville, and citizens of Easton. 

At the west end of the bridge they were met by the committee of arrangements 
and reception, where they were received and welcomed to our borough by A. H. 
Reeder, Esq., in the following eloquent and appropriate speech : — 

" Citizens of Philadelphia and of New Jersey, and Guests : As the organ and 
representative, on this occasion, of the citizens of my native town, I have the 
honor of communicating to you their welcome, and of expressing the high grati- 
fication which it affords them, to have this opportunity of tendering you the 
hospitalities of our borough. 

"The dense and gathering throng who have come forth to greet you, give testi- 
mony of the warmth and sincerity of their welcome, whilst the booming cannon, 
the clanging bells, and the inspiriting music, give voice and tongue to its sincerity. 

" Your presence among us at any time could not but be a source of gratification 
and pleasure, but the occasion of your visit to-day lends it higher and increased 
interest. You come not only as citizens of our commercial metropolis, and of a 
sister State ; not only as guests known, respected, and esteemed as the messengers 
of progress — a word which it was reserved for this country to dignify to an extent 
unthought of before ; a word which, since it has been used to denote the mar- 
vellous development of the resources of our country, has acquired a new and 
somewhat negative signification, as unknown to lexicographers of old as was the 
thing it serves now to symbolize — but you come also as the bearers of good tidings, 
to tell us that, in the march of science and enterprise and utilitarian improve- 
ments, the lovely valley in our own Delaware has been opened up from the com- 
mercial metropolis of Pennsylvania to the borough of Easton. 

"The valley you have threaded to-day to reach us; and doubtless thronging 
thoughts of our country's progress were called up by its history. If we retrospect 
but little more than a century, we find that the representatives of the Delaware — 
then known to the red men as their own Mackamak — had seen but little of the 
white man. In all probability, no other craft than the birch canoe had skitted its 
rapids, or been reflected upon the glittering bosom of its romantic eddies. The 
hand of the utilitarian has done much to despoil its banks of the adornment which 
nature bad so lavishly bestowed, but enough still remains to show it to have 
been one of the loveliest of rivers. History and tradition alike tell us, that long 
before the name of Easton was breathed upon its waters, this spot — known to the 
Indian as the Forks of Mackahnack — had awakened, by its natural beauty, a 
feeling of attachment and admiration that spread from tribe to tribe, and brought 



OPENING OF THE BELVIDERE DELAWARE RAILROAD. 153 

many a gathering from the wide-spread wilds on this, their loved and favored 
spot. 

" But this age of primitive navigation passed hy, and the march of progress 
drove the Lenni-Lenape and their bark canoes from the banks of their favorite 
river, and the graves of their fathers. 

" The well-known river boats next courted its waters, and, in the hands of 
hardy men, before many years had elapsed, were made to surmount the difficul- 
ties and dangers of its navigation, and carry the daily trade of the settlement 
through the dangerous and comparatively unknown rapids that thread the stream 
to tide. 

" Those vessels covered the whole period of its history to the construction of 
our canal, and the peculiar, and well-remembered class of men which the exi- 
gence of their use called forth, made their mark upon the time in which they 
lived. Muscular, active, athletic, and enduring beyond belief, faithful and trust- 
worthy to a proverb, sportive and social, yet fearless and ready-handed, they will 
not soon be forgotten. Always prompt for fun and play, the man who sought 
their courtesy and good offices was sure to find them, while he who insulted them, 
or wantonly provoked their anger, was sure to learn a lesson that needed no 
repeating. 

" For years they transported to your city all our produce and manufactures, 
frequently carrying passengers, who preferred their craft to the stage wagon, 
which, twenty years ago, accomplished in two days, by a shorter route, the trip 
you have made in a few hours this morning. They carried for us heavy remit- 
tances, with a stern honesty worthy of imitation in higher places, and without a 
single instance of defalcation. 

" Such were the generous-hearted, open-handed river boatmen of the Delaware. 
But progress came again and drove from the stage their long oars and iron-shod 
poles. As a class, they have passed away, while their feats of prowess and daring 
are fast becoming traditions to challenge the belief of a new generation. 

"The next era in the history of the Delaware is marked by the construction of 
our State canal — at which many shook their heads, and upon which the river 
boatmen glowered, with the same hatred of innovation, as did the Lenni-Lenape 
upon the encroachments of the white men. Commenced in 1828 as a work of 
doubtful expediency, carrying at first a limited trade, Progress has followed it up, 
until now it groans and teems with the transportation, that crowds its utmost 
capacity, stimulating our products, supplying your city, and pouring rich revenue 
into the treasury of the commonwealth. The age of the birch canoe had its origin 
in the mysterious past, and we cannot measure its centuries ; Progress was slow 
to execute it. The age of the river boats was shorter. In little more than half a 
century, the steady march of Progress had trodden them out of existence. The 
reign of the canal was shorter still, for in a quarter of a century alone it became 
insufficient for our wants ; Progress comes again and plants a rival by her side. 



154: E ASTON". 

" The rushing locomotive has felled the trees which served to moor the canoe and 
the boat, and it laughs at him and distance, seems to yell forth its taunts at the 
tardiness of the past and the resources of the future. But whilst that rapid, rush- 
ing iron horse rejoices in his strength, let him beware. Inexorable progress is on 
his heels, and neither his strength nor his spirit may save him from an inevitable 
destiny ; that, after having lived his age, he too will have a conqueror upon his 
track, to whom he must yield his laurels, as his predecessors have to him ; for we 
may well believe that one-half or three-fourths of a century hence some spectator 
may stand on this ground to welcome another era, as undreamed of in the present 
as the present has been in the past. But it were idle to depreciate the bounties 
and the wonders of the present for the possibilities of the future ; and what may 
be born of the lustres to come, we neither need nor desire it now. Our necessities 
more than supplied, our wishes gratified, we rejoice in the luxuriant abundance of 
the facilities we now enjoy. 

"With the honored guests before us we would exchange our joyous congratu- 
lations upon the auspicious result which has brought us together, whilst, again 
and again, we assure you that, for your own sake and for the sake of the occasion, 
you are all welcome to the festivities of the day and the best hospitalities we can 
tender you." 

Mr. W. S. Smith, chairman of the Philadelphia committee, in a few eloquent 
and pertinent remarks, thanked the citizens of Easton for their kind welcome and 
hospitable reception, and assured them that the ties which formerly served to 
bind Easton with Philadelphia were made the stronger by the enthusiasm and 
generosity manifested upon this occasion. 

At this point the streets were so densely crowded with people that, after the 
reception ceremonies were concluded, it was almost impossible for the marshals to 
move with their horses. Here the procession was joined by the National Guards, 
Captain Stoneback, preceded by Pomp's Cornet Band. Under the direction of 
chief-marshal Ihrie, and assistants James Shoemaker and D. H. Neiman, the 
procession was conducted over the following route, viz : up Northampton Street to 
Hamilton, down Hamilton to Spring Garden, down Spring Garden to Pomfret, down 
Pomfret to the Masonic Hall, where a substantial and very excellent collation had 
been prepared. 

As the procession passed through our streets, cheer after cheer was sent up by 
our citizens. Every window and balcony along the route was filled with ladies, 
who welcomed the excursionists with smiling countenances and waving handker- 
chiefs. Flags were floating over almost every public place, church and firemen's 
bells were ringing, and, in fact, our whole town presented a scene of animation 
and life greater perhaps than has ever been witnessed before. 

Upon entering the Hall, the chair was taken by A. H. Reeder, Esq., chairman of 
the Committee of Arrangements. When the entire procession had entered the 
Hall, the Rev. Dr. Gray, of the Presbyterian Church, invoked the divine blessing. 



OPENING OF THE BELVIDERE DELAWARE RAILROAD. 155 

After the viands had been properly and satisfactorily discussed, a Philaclelphian 
called for six cheers for the citizens of Easton, which were heartily and enthusi- 
astically given. 

Hon. J. M. Porter arose and congratulated the company upon the union that 
had taken place, by means of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, between the 
inhabitants of the fork of the Delaware and Lehigh and the citizens of Philadel- 
phia. He said the spirit of William Penn still pervaded the city of Philadelphia. 
Her public charities made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear. 
He commented in just praise upon the public spirit and commercial enterprise of 
the City of Brotherly Love, and closed by observing, that if asked for the works 
of Philadelphia, her citizens would reply, in the language of Sir Christopher Wren 
on a similar occasion, when he answered, " Circumspice 1 '' (look around). He con- 
cluded with the sentiment, "The city of Philadelphia," which was received with 
vociferous cheers. 

Mayor Charles Gilpin responded. He said that for him to speak of Philadelphia, 
her improvements, and extensive and largely to be extended territory (cheers), 
would be superfluous ; but he would take occasion to make a few remarks in 
reference to the opening of this new channel for the trade of the merchants of 
Easton and Philadelphia, whose common interests were so well represented on this 
occasion. Trade, he said, is the life-blood of every community. When nature 
does not provide the channels for it, the hand of man finds for it a safe pathway ; 
and before human enterprise and ability snow-capped mountains form no obsta- 
cles to successful communication and business traffic. Trade is the great link 
which binds states and men together, and the great human family is benefited by 
it more than can be told. In the opening of this new railroad, Pennsylvania and 
New Jersey have both provided for their citizens an excellent avenue of trade and 
travel, and the event thus celebrated was one which, were he but better acquainted 
with the subject, he would be glad to speak of more at length. He concluded by 
giving as a toast, " Easton — known and appreciated heretofore, destined to be more 
highly known and appreciated hereafter." 

This sentiment elicited prolonged applause. It was responded to by Judge 
McCartney, of Easton, who returned thanks, on behalf of the citizens of the place, 
for the sentiment which had been offered. They could not but feel a deep interest 
in the improvement which crosses a State, small in superficial area, but important 
in position and in other respects. He reminded his hearers that in importance 
there are other elements besides large mountains and great coal-fields. People 
make a State great by their works, not by mere numbers, for then Russia and 
China would rank above us ; not by military strength, for then France might 
excel us. In a word, the excellence of a State consists in the same attributes 
which mark excellence in manhood. If we want to find such a State, we need not 
seek further than the one through whose territory the excursionists have just 
passed. Here the speaker referred to the glorious history of New Jersey, and 



156 EASTON. 

proceeded to say that Easton extended one hand to her and the other to Phila- 
delphia. It looks to two of the largest commercial cities of the globe. But this 
enterprise has a wider scope. Every such railroad is an auxiliary of the National 
Union, a moral and material aid to its perpetuation. After some further remarks, 
the speaker gave his toast : " New Jersey — may her future history be as illustrious 
as her past." 

Governor Price, of New Jersey, responded to this in a very pertinent speech, in 
which he thanked the citizens of Philadelphia and Easton for the compliments 
they had bestowed upon the State he represented, and whose territory and wealth 
had been the means of uniting hand in hand the commercial metropolis of Phila- 
delphia and the good old town of Easton. He concluded by giving as his toast, 
"The perpetual union of Pennsylvania and New Jersey." 

This was enthusiastically received, and Attorney-General Thompson, of New 
Jersey, being called upon, responded in a humorous speech, which was very well 
received. He gave as his toast, " The merchants of Philadelphia and the good 
people of Easton — men, women, and children — God bless them." 

H. D. Maxwell responded in a happy manner, and concluded by giving, " The 
merchants of Philadelphia." 

John M. Kennedy, Esq., of Philadelphia, was loudly called for, and, in behalf 
of the Philadelphia merchants, responded to the sentiment. He spoke of the 
integrity of the Philadelphia merchants. It had been alluded to, and he, as one 
of them, was glad to hear the allusion. In trade integrity was everything, and 
he believed that Philadelphians would always act with integrity in their business 
relations. That alone would insure their success, and gain them honors. He felt 
the importance of securing to Philadelphia the trade of the rich and productive 
country surrounding Easton. 

He was followed by John N. Hutchison, Esq., in a very neat, sensible, and appro- 
priate speech ; who closed by giving, " The Senate and House of Representatives 
of New Jersey." This was responded to by Mr. Mumford, the Speaker of the 
Senate of the State of New Jersey. He was followed by Judge Robinson, of Bel- 
videre, and other gentlemen, of whose speeches, we are sorry, we have not room to 
speak. 

Four o'clock having arrived, it was announced that those wishing to return to 
their homes would have to proceed to the depot ; whereupon a procession was 
formed, headed by the band and the Committee of Arrangements, who escorted 
about 300 of the guests to the cars. Before leaving the Hall, Messrs. Cooper and 
Hewitt extended an invitation to the company to stop at their furnace, some two 
miles down the line, and partake of some refreshments there provided. Accord- 
ingly the train halted as desired, and the whole party availed themselves of the 
hospitalities of those gentlemen. We were not present, but were told that a mag- 
nificent entertainment was provided, and that over its discussion a number of 
animated and humor-abounding speeches were made. 



OPENING OF THE BELVIDERE DELAWARE RAILROAD. 157 

Those who remained in town then sauntered forth to meet and exchange greet- 
ing and salutation with our business men, many of whom for a number of years 
have enjoyed the most intimate relations with them, and it was really gratifying 
to witness the warmth of feeling mutually manifested. Thus passed the day. 

And now we shall briefly allude to the festivities and gayeties of the evening. 
Preparations had been made for a grand ball in honor of the important event that 
had been celebrated during the day, and as early as 9 o'clock the large saloon of 
the Masonic Hall was crowded with ladies and gentlemen, anxiously awaiting the 
" sound of the trumpet," that they might engage in the delights of the " mazy 
dance." The Hall was tastefully and appropriately decorated, the music by 
Adams's and Bayley's cotillion bands was delightful, and, in fact, everything con- 
nected therewith reflected much credit upon the gentlemen under whose manage- 
ment it was conducted. There were about 150 of the fairest, gayest, and liveliest 
of Easton's fair daughters in attendance, whose smiles and graces cast an irre- 
sistible halo of " suushine" and pleasantness around. As we stood in the gallery, 
gazing upon the gay and animated scene below, a friend at our elbow remarked 
that it must have been a scene like this that the poet was gazing upon when he 

wrote — 

"Eyes looked love to eyes, 

And all went merry as a marriage-bell." 

The dance was continued till about 3 o'clock in the morning, when the company 
dispersed, all of whom, we have no doubt, with feelings of gratification that will 
be long cherished by those who participated in the gayeties. 

Among the distinguished guests present we noticed Governor Price, Attorney- 
General Thompson, and State Treasurer Smith, all of New Jersey ; Hon. James M. 
Porter and Judge McCartney, of this borough ; James M. Kennedy, William Smith, 
and other prominent business men of Philadelphia. 

On Saturday morning, at about 9£ o'clock, our guests formed in procession, and, 
headed by Bayley's band and escorted by a large number of our citizens, took up 
their line of March for the depot at Phillipsburg. Here a hearty good-bye was 
bid, and, as the cars moved off. cheer upon cheer was given by the assembled 
Eastonians, and a fervent " safe return" was breathed for those who were leaving 
us. Thus ended one of the most important and interesting events in the history 
of our borough, an event that will never be forgotten by our citizens, but will be 
remembered and commented upon in a manner suitable to its importance. 



SOUTH EASTON. 



South Easton is situated on the south side of the river Lehigh, 
directly opposite the borough of Easton. The town was laid out 
in 1833, by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. By an act 
of the legislature, it was incorporated as a borough in 1840. 

The town being comparatively of recent origin, the history of 
the site has not much interest, yet a few facts may be stated in 
connection with it. 

It comprises part of 300 acres of land owned by Melchoir Hay 
(a farmer), who in 1750 assisted Messrs. Parsons and Scull in lay- 
ing out and surveying the town of Easton. In the assessment of 
1761, this tract was valued at £12 ($32). 

In 1773, it appears to have depreciated in value, as we find it 
assessed in that year but £10 16s. ($28 80), and upon which the 
taxes amounted to sixteen shillings and two pence ($2 14). To 
the assessment list of that year was attached a column of "honor- 
able proprietaries' quitrents," which was generally a half-penny 
per acre ; some few of the early purchasers of land bought out this 
reservation. 

"We find in the column of quitrents the words " no quit," writ- 
ten opposite the assessment of Mr. Hay's land, which shows that 
the title to it was free from that reservation. 

In 1796, this land was sold to Jacob Eyerly, of Nazareth, who, in 
1798, sold it to Henry Snyder, of Easton, for £800, or $2133 33. 
From that time until the completion of the Lehigh Canal, it was 
used for farming purposes. South Easton at present contains be- 
tween 1500 and 2000 inhabitants, and near 300 dwelling-houses — 
3 stores, 5 groceries, 3 hotels, 1 Methodist church, 1 Catholic 



APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN. 159 

chureh, a town ball, a market house, 1 grist-mill, 1 saw-mill, 2 iron 
and brass foundries, 2 cotton factories, 1 rolling-mill and wire fac- 
tory, 1 blast furnace, and. the repair shops of the Lehigh Valley 
Eailroad. Most of the inhabitants of the place are employed in 
the manufactories above mentioned. The water powers of South 
Easton are derived from the dam of the Lehigh Coal and Naviga- 
tion Company, erected about two miles above the town — which 
gives about 23 feet head and fall ; the occupiers of them pay a 
rent to that company of so much per inch of the apertures through 
which the water is let upon the wheels. The rent, we believe is 
$3 per inch, per annum. This power propels the Glendon iron 
works with three stacks, the South Easton furnace with one stack, 
Stewart & Co.'s wire and rolling-mill, the grist-mill of John Max- 
well, the saw-mill of Thos. McKeen, the Franklin iron works of F. 
S. "Wells, and. the cotton factories of McKeen & Quinn. 

The Lehigh Canal debouches at this place, by outlet locks into 
the basin formed by the State dam at the mouth of the Lehigh, 
from which boats can be dispatched either by the Delaware division 
of the Pennsylvania Canal, or by the outlet lock into the river 
Delaware, whence they are taken by a rope ferry across to the 
Morris Canal in New Jersey. 

The business part of South Easton is confined principally to the 
western portion of the borough, which is about a half mile from 
where the Lehigh Bridge crosses to Easton ; the intervening space, 
however, is mostly built upon, and a plank walk laid the entire 
distance for the accommodation of pedestrians ; the walks and 
curbs in the thickly settled part of the town are similar to those 
in Easton, and present a neat and substantial appearance. The 
houses are mostly built of brick, many of which are very hand- 
some, with beautiful gardens surrounding them. About the centre 
of the town rises a small hill called Mount Tabor: directly behind 
this hill is a collection of houses called Uttsville; though it is 
within the limits of the borough of South Easton, and is a part of 
that place, it appears to be so entirely cut off from the main portion 
of the town that it is generally called by the above name. This 



160 SOUTH EASTON. 

part of South Easton has improved wonderfully within a very short 
period; but a year or two ago only three or four houses stood be- 
tween the hills which rise around the place, while now fifty or more 
perhaps could be counted which appear to have sprung up in a night. 
Signs of improvement are visible in all parts of the town ; a large 
number of good and substantial dwelling-houses have been erected 
during the last year, and still greater improvements are expected 
to be made during the coming season. The town is supplied with 
gas by the Easton Gas Company, who extended their pipes to this 
place some few years ago. Water will also be introduced here 
upon completion of the West Ward Water Works in Easton. A 
Catholic and a Methodist church have been erected within the last 
few years. There are four schools, in which are educated 132 
male and 137 female scholars — also several beneficial societies, a 
fire company, &c. &c. 

The town during the day presents rather a dull appearance; but 
little is seen or heard excepting the occasional whizzing by of a 
train of cars laden with the rich products of the valley, or the musical 
notes of a boatman's horn as he nears the locks. But when the merry 
ringing of the factory's bells and the shrill sound of the furnace 
whistle proclaims the day's work finished, hundreds of people are 
seen issuing from the numerous "hives of industry;" it is then, 
when the heavy moaning of the ponderous water-wheels has ceased, 
and the sharp click of the power-looms is silenced, that the town 
becomes lively and presents an appearance which would have 
scarcely been expected a few hours before. 

The passenger and freight depot of the Lehigh Valley and New 
Jersey Central Eailroads are located in the extreme eastern part of 
the borough, directly opposite the bridge. This depot presents a 
novel appearance from its being two stories in height ; the upper 
story is used as a passenger depot, and is on a level with the New 
Jersey Central Eailroad ; and the lower story, which is used as a 
freight depot, is on a level with the Belvidere Delaware Eailroad; 
as we have before mentioned, these two roads meet on a common 
level about a half mile further up in the town. At the extreme 



MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 161 

western part of the borough are located the engine-house and re- 
pair-shops of the Lehigh Valley Eailroad Company. The grounds 
upon which these buildings are erected are in extent about three 
acres. The engine-house is built of stone, in an octangular form, 
is 220 feet in diameter, and has stalls for 28 engines; in the centre 
of the building is a turn-table 50 feet in diameter. Besides this 
building, there is a machine-shop, blacksmith-shop, repair-shop, 
carpenter-shop, &c. ; also the offices, store-rooms, and the residence 
of the master machinist of the road, Mr. John I. Kinsey, through 
whose skill and perseverance the locomotives of the company have 
been kept in such a high state of efficiency. The company con- 
template erecting, during the present year, a new car repair-shop 
40 by 125 feet, machine-shop 60 by 100 feet, blacksmith-shop 40 
by 60 feet, boiler-shop 40 by 50 feet, car-house 50 by 175 feet, and 
a shop for the mending of rails. It is their intention also to build 
a reservoir on the hill immediately above the engine-house, suffi- 
ciently large to contain a three months' supply for the engines, 
and to be used also in case of fire. After these contemplated im- 
provements are completed, they will have as substantial, extensive, 
and conveniently arranged buildings as any other company in the 
State. There are now employed at these repair-shops some 200 
hands. 

The rolling-mill and wire manufactory of Messrs. Stewart & Co. 
is of considerable magnitude, and has been in successful operation 
since its erection in 1836. Twelve to fourteen hundred tons of 
iron and copper wire of different sizes are manufactured and sent 
to market annually. The wire manufactured at this establishment, 
from its superior quality, has always brought remunerating prices. 
The gross amount of value is about $175,000 to $200,000 per year. 
There was originally connected with this establishment machinery 
for the manufacture of nails, which was successfully carried on for 
several years, but was finally discarded, and the undivided atten- 
tion of the company given to the producing of wire alone. This 
establishment employs near a hundred hands. 

The Lehigh Cotton Factory, belonging to McKeen & Quinn, was 
11 



162 SOUTH E ASTON. 

originally built in 1835. During the last few years the works 
have been very much enlarged and improved. The spinning mill 
contains over 8,700 spindles, and all the necessary machinery for 
preparing the cotton for the spindles, of which over 2,200 pounds 
per day is manufactured into yarn. The weaving mill contains 
266 power-looms, which will turn off about 8,000 yards of cloth 
per day. There are between 250 and 300 hands employed at this 
establishment. 

The Franklin Iron-Works of Mr. F. S. Wells are also located 
here. This establishment has been in successful operation for 
about fifteen years. Besides the regular foundry business, there 
has been added, within the last few years, the manufacture of steam- 
engines, mining, well, and cistern pumps, horse-powers, mowing- 
machines, reapers, threshing-machines, corn-huskers, and all other 
agricultural machines and implements. The great amount of work 
executed at this well-known establishment is sufficient proof that 
good work is appreciated. 

The South Baston Iron and Brass Foundry, erected in 1857 by 
Mr. James Kidd, is also doing an extensive business, principally 
in casting and finishing customer work. 

The saw-mill of Mr. James McKeen and grist-mill of Mr. John 
Maxwell have been in successful and constant operation since their 
erection in 1836. 

A blast-furnace for making pig-iron was erected at this place in 
1839, by Barnet, Swift & Co. The blast was driven by water sup- 
plied from the canal. The fuel used was charcoal, brought from 
near the Lehigh Water-Gap. The ore smelted was principally the 
brown hematite mined at the base of the South Mountain, with a 
small portion of magnetic ore from New Jersey. The furnace pro- 
duced about 25 tons per week. In 1844 the furnace, together with 
the large stone foundry annexed, came into the possession of Fre- 
derick Goddell, who demolished the furnace, and on its site erected 
another, in which anthracite coal was used as fuel. In 1852 B. B. 
Thomas (who was then owner) pulled down this furnace, and 
erected a larger one on its site, 48 feet high, and 14 feet wide at 
the boshes, producing about 100 tons per week. The blast was 



MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 163 

heated by gas taken from the furnace, six feet below the tunnel 
head. In. 1853 this furnace passed into the hands of Charles Jack- 
son, Jr. (who owns the Glendon works). In 1857 and 1858 the 
weekly yield was about 120 tons of pig-iron. The recent im- 
provements that have been made to this furnace have greatly 
increased the yield. 

As the making of iron is a branch of manufactures in which the 
Lehigh Valley is greatly interested, an account of its early manu- 
facture in this section of country, and a slight sketch of the jealous 
care with which the Indians watched over these mineral lands, will 
perhaps prove interesting to the reader. 

Manufacture of Ikon. — This branch of manufacture in Pennsylvania has attained 
an importance that renders the investigation where, and at what period of time a 
commencement of smelting the iron-stone took place, a matter of peculiar interest. 
The following extract will show that near forty years before the landing of William 
Penn mineral ores were known to have existed about Durham. In 1648 a pamphlet 
was published in London, entitled " A Description of the Province of New Albion, 
and a Direction for Adventurers with a small Stock to get two for one, and good 
Land freely, to live plentifully," &c. &c. In giving a description of the country 
at the falls of Charles River (as the Delaware was then called, in honor of King 
Charles), meaning the falls at Trenton, it says : " These falls are near two hundred 
miles up from the ocean. It hath clear fields to plant and sow, and near it there 
are sweet large meadows of clover and honeysuckle, nowhere else in America to 
be seen, unless transported from Europe. A ship of one hundred and forty tons 
may come up to these falls, which is the best seat for health, and a trading house 
to be built on the rocks, and ten leagues higher up* are lead-mines in stony hills." 
The mines here alluded to were either at Solebury or Durham ; the ten leagues' 
distance indicate the latter. They, however, were not lead but iron-mines. 

The Free Society of Traders, incorporated by William Penn, March 22, 1682, pur- 
chased twenty thousand acres of land, five thousand acres of which was located 
in Bucks County, and surveyed by Jacob Taylor (Surveyor-General) in 1701, and 
called Durham, and this area yet forms the township of Durham, in the northern- 
most section of that county. 

The inducement to locate a warrant for lands near fifty miles north of Phila- 
delphia in 1701, a considerable distance beyond the settled parts of the province, 
when at the same time land in large quantities could be procured nearer, must 
have arisen from the knowledge of the iron-mines there, as it was one of the 
objects of the association to erect works for the manufacture of iron, glass, &c. 
J. Claypoole (one of the associators), in a letter dated June 4, 1682, t says : "We 
are to send one hundred persons to build houses, to plant and improve land, and 



* It may have been twelve leagues or more. The relator was not permitted by 
the Indians to proceed up the river further than the falls at Trenton. The ten 
leagues, or thirty miles, was considered by the Indians as a day's walk, and pro- 
bably thus described. 

f Hazard's Annals, p. 580. 



164 SOUTH EASTON". 

for cattle, and to set up a glass-house for bottles and drinking-glasses ; and we 
hope to have "wine and oil for merchandise, hemp for cordage, and for iron and lead 
and other minerals," &c. The Swedish and Dutch traders passed through the 
country many years prior to Penn's arrival, and no doubt were informed by the 
Indians of these heavy stones. The Indians put great value upon these and all 
other mineral deposits. James Logan, the Proprietary Secretary, in a letter to 
George Clarke, dated August 4, 1737, says : "At the time of the arrival of the 
Shawonoe Indians, in 1698, when they came into Pennsylvania from the South — 
they were always a rough, ungovernable, and cruel people, more so than any other 
Indians — they were placed by the Delawares at such places where there was some- 
thing to take care of or watch over." A paiiy was placed at Wyoming, to take 
care of the supposed silver-mines there ; another party in the Minisink country, 
near Stroudsburg, Monroe County, to watch the copper-mines ; and so at various 
other places ; one party also at " Pechoqueolin," near Durham, to take care of the 
iron-mines. In Colonial Records, vol. iii. p. 327, we find, May 20, 1728 : "A mes- 
sage was received this day from Kakowatchy, the chief of the Shawonoes at Pecho- 
queolin, near Durham Iron-Works." Another passage, in the fourth volume of 
Voles of Assembly, p. 227, August 20, 1752, says : " But inasmuch as there were few 
or no settlements above Durham in 1723," &c. The first admitting that the iron- 
works were already established in 1728, and the second that a settlement was at 
Durham in 1723, and, notwithstanding that the word " iron-works" does not occur 
in the latter, yet it may be presumed that but for this purpose none other had been 
made. 

The Indians, at the treaty held in Philadelphia in 1732, remonstrated against 
settlements being made upon their lands at the Minisinks (near Stroudsburg in 
Monroe County), at the same time admitting that they had sold one tract there to 
Mr. Depui, and also had formerly sold " Durham" tract.* 

The proprietaries claimed all the lands northward from Philadelphia to the Le- 
high Hills, under the release from the Indians of September 17, 1718. These hills 
were believed to be the boundary of all Indian purchases at that time by every 
purchaser of lands from the proprietaries ; and as the Durham tract came within 
this boundary, the Free Society of Traders would undoubtedly not have considered 
it necessary to extinguish the Indian title to it, as they (the Indians) had sold it 
by the release of 17th September, 1718. Consequently we have the best grounds 
for assuming that the conveyance from the Indians to the Durham company was 
prior to 1718, and may have been before 1701, when the survey was made. This 
opinion is strengthened by the fact of the passage of the law of 1700, declaring all 
private purchases of lands from the Indians void after that time ; a law which was 
sometimes evaded by leasing lands from the Indians, with the permission of cutting 
the timber. It is stated, 28th March, 1720 ( Votes of Assembly), that " John Wright 
brought in a bill for the purpose of preventing the buying of lands of the natives, 
stating that the act of Assembly of 1700, entitled 'An act against buying lands of 
the Indians,' was defective, and doth not fully prevent the mischief to be remedied 
by said act." And Governor Gordon, in several of his messages to the Assembly, 
reverted to the evasions of the law of 1700 " by cutting the timber," which, he 
says, "generally constitutes their chief value." 

Taking all the foregoing into consideration, we will arrive at the conclusion that 
the Durham tract was purchased by the company before 1718, and that the furnace 
was erected or in progress of being erected before 1723. 



* Smith's Laws, vol. ii. 



MANUFACTURE OF IRON. 165 

Within the precincts of " old Northampton County" no iron was manufactured 
before 1825, but we find that as early as 1777 there had been a forge in operation 
in the then county of Cumberland,* in Newport Township, t about six miles below 
Wilkesbarre. This iron was made in a forge fire, direct from the ore, called a 
" bloomary forge," and did not undergo the refining process in a furnace by smelt- 
ing it. This forge is also mentioned by a German traveller, named Schoepff, in 
1783,J who found the buildings in ruins and the forge not in operation. 

The manufacture of iron in any part of old Northampton County before 1809 was 
not attempted. In that year William Henry, of Nazareth, put into operation a 
forge he had erected in 1808, and on the 9th of March the first bar of refined iron 
was drawn out. In the years 1824 and 1825 Mathew S. Henry (the writer of this 
history) erected a blast-furnace, and on the 10th day of May, 1825, the first ton of 
pig-iron was run out ; and subsequently he made the ten-plate wood-stove and 
hollow-ware, such as pots, kettles, and skillets, in considerable quantities, as well 
as pig-iron for the use at his forge. This furnace was of the ordinary size ; the 
stack was thirty-two feet in height, the furnace itself eight feet wide above the 
boshes. The fuel was charcoal, and the weekly yield about twenty tons if run 
into pig-iron, and if castings about twelve to fourteen tons. The principal part of 
the ore used was the columnar or pipe species of hematite ore of Lower Mt. Bethel 
Township, as also the brown hematite from Williams and Hanover Townships in 
Northampton, and Whitehall in Lehigh Counties. In 1826 Stephen Balliet erected 
a charcoal furnace in Lehigh County, near the Blue Mountain. 

The smelting of the ore with the anthracite coal as a fuel was first successfully 
accomplished at a furnace erected in South Easton, near the site of the present 
furnace. Mr. John Van Buren, assisted by funds contributed by James McKeen, 
Charles Rodenbaugh, Thomas McKeen, and several others, erected this furnace for 
the purpose of experimenting on the use of anthracite as fuel. The furnace went 
into operation some time in the spring of 1837. Many attempts were unsuccessful. 
Mr. Van Buren felt the want of more blast, and made numerous changes, until 
eventually, in the first months of 1838, he made about twenty tons of pig-iron. 
Upon calling on his partners for a greater amount of funds, those gentlemen, find- 
ing that all of their former contributions had been sunk (about $7,000), refused to 
advance any more, and all further efforts on the part of the sanguine Mr. Van 
Buren were ineffectual. The discovery of the use of anthracite coal for smelting 
the iron stone was made in England, by Mr. Crane, in 1837. From the following- 
letter, from W. Henry to M. S. Henry, it appears that the credit is due Mr. Van 
Buren of being the first person in the United States who succeeded in smelting 
iron ore by the use of anthracite coal. The letter is dated March 12, 1838, and 
says : " Mr. Van Buren, the anthracite iron man at Easton, has solved the problem, 
I think, of making iron with that coal. He sent me some specimens, and is said 
to run one ton of iron to one and one-half ton of coal ; though the quality of the 
iron is much deteriorated by the use of anthracite, in point of tenacity." 

On the old Durham property, ten miles below Easton, in Bucks County, on the 
right bank of the Delaware River, are the two furnaces erected in 1847 and 1849 by 
Messrs. Whitaker & Co. These are blown by steam-power, each forty feet high, 
thirteen and fourteen feet wide at the boshes, and five feet at the tunnel head, 



* Cumberland County was formed in 1750, out of Lancaster, Philadelphia, and 
Bucks Counties. 

t History of Lackawanna Valley, by Hollister, 1857, p. 96. 
X Schoepff ; s Travels in America, vol. i. p. 220. 



166 GLENDON. 

producing about nine thousand tons of pig-iron per year. The ore used is chiefly 
obtained from the old Durham mines, in the immediate vicinity. 

A description of the different furnaces in the Lehigh Valley will 
be given in the history of each of the places in which they are 
located. 



GLENDON. 

G-lendon is situated about two miles above Easton on the south 
side of the river Lehigh, and is the first village we come to after 
leaving South Easton. It has a population of about 500 inhabi- 
tants, who are mostly employed in and around the furnaces. 
There is one hotel and several small grocery stores in the place ; 
but the inhabitants generally receive their supplies from Easton. 
The workmen's houses are comfortable and well built, and, in some 
cases, neat and tasteful ; gardens are laid around their houses. The 
residences of the agent, superintendent, and cashier are splendid 
specimens of architecture and good taste. The Lehigh Yalley 
Eailroad and Lehigh Canal run directly through the place, afford- 
ing every facility for supplying the furnace with coal, &c, and con- 
veying to market the manufactured metal. 

The " Glendon Iron- Works" located here, are owned by Charles 
Jackson, Jr., of Boston, who also owns the furnace at South Easton. 
These works, since their erection, have enjoyed an uninterrupted 
tide of success; for which great credit is due to the intelligent 
officers who have them in charge. The Glendon works comprise 
three blast furnaces blown by water and steam power ; they are 
built of common bricks, and are circular, having each six arches, 
five for the introduction of the blast, and one for the purpose of 
drawing off the iron, and working the furnace. The iron ore prin- 
cipally used is the hematite, mined at the foot of the South Moun- 
tain, near the junction of the limestone and gneiss; part of the 
ore used is the magnetic, from Morris County, New Jersey. The 



GLENDON IRON-WORKS. 167 

number of hands employed at the furnace is about one hundred 
and fifty. In 1858 these works produced 21,928 tons of pig-iron, 
and used 45,000 tons of coal, employed in boating iron ore, coal, 
and pig-iron, with 60 to 70 canal boats, and 200 hands, with 150 
mules and horses, and in quarrying limstone and mining iron ore, 
250 hands. 

The first furnace was erected in 1843, under the superintendence 
of William Firmstone, 45 feet high, 12 feet at the boshes, and was 
at that time; and for several years afterwards, the highest anthra- 
cite furnace in the United States. The blast machinery, consisting 
of two cylinders, each sixty-two inches in diameter, 8 feet strokes, 
was propelled by two water-wheels 15 feet diameter, 20 feet buckets, 
using water from the Lehigh Canal ; the product was from 80 to 
90 tons per week. This furnace was pulled down in 1850, and a 
larger one erected on its site, 50 feet high, 18 feet boshes, product 
180 tons per week. In 1845 a second furnace was erected, product 
135 tons per week. At this time two more water-wheels and an- 
other blast cylinder were added. In 1850 a third furnace was 
built, 45 feet high, 16 feet at the boshes, and, at the same time, a 
blast engine, driven by steam of 400 horse power, was erected, 
using carbonic oxide gas for heating the boilers, taken from the 
furnace through an aperture about 10 feet below the tunnel head. 
This gas was commenced to be used in 1845, for the purpose of 
heating the blast. 

The officers of the furnaces are as follows : — 

Furnace Manager, Daniel Thomas. * 

Superintendent, Herbert Thomas. 

Cashier, E. Rockwell. 

Agent, William Firmstone. 

At the Glendon Iron-Works a wooden bridge was erected over 
the Lehigh River, at a cost of $12,000. It was incorporated in 
1855 by act of legislature. It consists of two spans of 175 feet 
each, and 18 feet wide in the clear. There is a railing laid down 
on the bridge to convey limestone to the iron-works. 

Proceeding up the Lehigh a short distance above Glendon, we 



OCT 22 1907 



168 HOPEVILLB. 

reacli the dam of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, 
known, in common parlance, as Coleman's dam, and the chain dam. 
It obtained the name of Coleman's dam, from Jonathan Coleman, 
an old settler, who resided, when the dam was erected, on the 
north side of the river, near the abutment of the dam. The com- 
pany subsequently erected piers in the pool of the dam, supporting 
a chain from shore to shore, by which the boatmen, in crossing, 
could generally keep their boats from being swept over the dam ; 
and since this, it has often been called the chain dam. This is the 
dam from which the canal and water powers of South Easton are 
supplied with water. The dam is about twelve feet in height, and 
in ordinary water, furnishes a handsome overfall of its surplus 
water, from side to side in the river. From this dam upwards, the 
towing path is on the northeast side of the river. About two years 
since, the towing path was carried several hundred yards on the 
south side of the river, and then crossed by a wire bridge to the 
island, and thence up the south side of the island to its head ; 
whence it was carried to the northern shore by a series of piers 
and plank bridges, thus joining the old towing path that had here- 
tofore been in use. The object of this change was to give greater 
security to the boatmen in preventing their craft from being swept 
over the dam in freshets. 

Hopeville. — On the right hand side of the Lehigh, near the 
head of the pool caused by the chain dam, is located some dozen 
houses known by the name of Hopeville, or, as it is sometimes 
called, Hope's Lock. There is, in this village, one hotel and one 
store, which depend principally upon the trade of the boatmen for 
their support. Passing up a little further, we come to Limeville, 
a collection of several houses on the left hand side of the River. 
Here are located the Lime-Works of Messrs. Blakesly, Sayre & Co. 
They consist of three kilns, with a capacity for manufacturing some 
75,000 bushels of lime per annum. A short distance further up, 
are located the Lehigh Lime-Works of Messrs. Green & Eiley. 
These works consist of four kilns, with every facility for manufac- 
turing and sending to market about 100,000 bushels of lime per 



BRIDGES OVER THE LEHIGH. 169 

annum. As we near Freemansburg, which is the next town in our 
course through the Valley, we come to the Freemansburg Lime- 
Works of Mr. J. Fulmer. These works consist of four kilns with 
about the same capacity as those of the Lehigh kilns. These 
establishments find ready sale for their lime along the line of the 
North Pennsylvania and New Jersey Central Eailroads. 

Freemansburg. — This borough is situated on the north bank of 
the River Lehigh, about ten miles from Easton and two miles from 
Bethlehem. The 500 acre tract of land upon part of which th& 
town is located, was purchased from the proprietaries by a Mr,. 
Wister, a merchant in the city of Philadelphia. After Mr. Wister's; 
decease, the tract stands in the assessment lists from 1760 to 1790:: 
" Widow Wister, 500— valued, £50, by Nancy's Run."* The- 
Freemans were early residents in Lower Saucon Township ; the- 
names of George and Richard Freeman are found as early as 1760, 
Mr. Jacob Freeman, from whom the borough derived its name, is- 
yet residing there, and has still a considerable interest in unoccu- 
pied lots. 

The first bridge over the Lehigh at this place was built in 1816,. 
the act of incorporation being obtained by Henry Jarret,f on the- 
29th day of January of that year. The high freshet of 1841 swept- 
this bridge away, with all the others on the Lehigh, viz: Stod- 
dartsville, Lehighton, Siegfried's, Biery's, Allentown, Bethlehem^. 

* The person from whom this stream obtained its name was a colored woman 
by the name of " Nancy," who lived in a small log cabin about half a mile up the 
creek, near where the wagon road to Easton branches off. She was extensively 
known throughout the neighborhood as a fortune-teller. 

f Henry Jarret was one of the trio that in 1799 were found guilty of high treason. 
His associates were John Fries and Frederick Haeng. The circumstance that led 
them to commit the act was this : Shortly after the election of John Adams to the- 
Presidency of the United States, several acts were passed by Congress which were 
obnoxious to a portion of the population of eastern Pennsylvania, particularly in 
the upper parts of Bucks County, and lower parts of Berks and Northampton 
Counties. John Fries headed a party in the lower part of what is now Lehigh 
County, who resisted attempts by the federal government to collect a " direct tax "" 
well known by the name of " house tax." (The revolt having been mostly in 
Lehigh County, will be more fully explained under that head.) 

12 



170 FEEEMANSBCEG — SHIMEESVILLE. 

and Easton. It was rebuilt by Messrs. Shouse & Co., of Easton, 
and, after some time, was sold to Jacob Freeman, who disposed of 
it to the present proprietors, Messrs. Shimer and Reigel. 

Previous to the completion of the Lehigh Canal, which passes 
through this place, the whole town consisted of but a few farmers' 
houses. Some of the farmers used every means in their power to 
prevent the canal being built on their land, using as one of their 
arguments, that the embankments would prevent them from water- 
ing their horses at the river. Shortly after the completion of the 
canal, the ruined land was divided into building lots, many of 
which are now built upon with substantial private and public 
buildings. 

The town was incorporated as a borough April 24th, 1854, and 
now contains about 1200 inhabitants, one Methodist church, one 
Lutheran and Presbyterian church, one school-house, in which are 
employed five teachers, who instruct about two hundred children ; 
three hotels, five stores, one grist mill and distillery, and two boat 
yards. The boat building establishments at this place are some of 
the most extensive in the Valley, one firm alone turning out over 
thirty new boats every year, besides the repairing of many others. 
The buildings of the town present a neat and substantial appear- 
ance ; are mostly built of brick, forming one street nearly a mile 
in length, which, when viewed from the railroad on the opposite 
side of the river, gives the town quite an extensive appearance. 

Shimeesville.— Shimersville is situated on the south side of the 
river Lehigh, on the banks of the Saucon Creek. The village con- 
tains about fifteen dwelling-houses, one hotel, one store, one mer- 
chant mill, and one woollen manufactory. A branch of the North 
Pennsylvania Railroad passes through this place, and connects 
with the, Lehigh Valley Railroad directly opposite Freemansburg. 
The greater part of the property in Shimersville is owned by John 
Knecht, Esq., an energetic and enterprising business man who 
resides there. Shimersville being in Saucon Township, some of its 
early history will perhaps prove interesting, from its having been 



curky's ferry. 171 

one of the first settled townships in the county. It furnished many 
of the later settled townships with the staff of life until they were 
able to provide for themselves. During the Eevolutionary War, 
at a time when the treasury had not a dollar to give toward the 
support of the sick and wounded, the farmers of this township 
came forward and sold their wheat and rye on credit, when at the 
same time the rich merchants of Philadelphia* would not sell a 
bushel of salt to preserve the five hundred half starved cattle at 
Valley Forge. 

The very soil upon which this grain grew appears to have been 
blessed since then with luxuriant crops and golden harvests. The 
land upon part of which Shimersville is situated, and which extends 
as far up as Bethlehem, was originally purchased from the proprie- 
taries by Jedediah Irish in 1735. The Penns projected the disposal 
of 100,000 acres of land by lottery : as the lottery was never 
drawn, the holders of the tickets received their respective portions. 
Mr. Irish, holding three tickets, was entitled to three tracts of 500 
acres each, two of which he chose on the south side, and one on 
• the north side of the Lehigh River. He afterwards disposed of two 
tracts to the Moravians ; upon part of one of these tracts Bethlehem 
is built. Mr. Irish erected a mill at Shimersville before 1740 (the 
exact date we have been unable to ascertain), and which is pro- 
bably the oldest mill in Northampton County. The Moravians 
petitioned the courts of Bucks County, in 1743, for "a wagon road 
from Bethlehem to Saucon Mill." Some years after, Mr. Irish sold 
the mill and land to Mr. Cruikshank, of Philadelphia. In 1760, 
we find in the assessment : " Widow Cruikshank, 500 acres deeded 
land, valued, £35." This land was afterwards purchased by John 
Curry, a lawyer of Philadelphia, who resided at the mill for many 
years ; he erected a ferry on the Lehigh, which retained the name 
of Curry's Ferry, until Mr. Jarret built the bridge in 1816. A 
person by the name of Omensetter was ferryman. We find in the 
proceedings of the Committee of Safety that " Conrad Omensetter 

* Letter. Joseph Reed, President of Executive Council of Pennsylvania, to Wil- 
liam Henry, Esq., of Lancaster. 



172 BETHLEHEM. 

in 1779 came before the committee for Northampton County, asking 
for compensation for the use of his flat in conveying Sullivan's 
army over the river at Easton. He was allowed five shillings per 
day from the time it was taken until returned." 

Leaving Shimersville and Freemansburg, which we have before 
stated are situated on opposite sides of the river, we cross the 
Saucon Creek and pass rapidly through some of the finest farming 
land in the State. A distance of two miles is soon passed, and we 
find ourselves in the next town in our course — the ancient town of 
Bethlehem, which we shall endeavor fully to describe in the space 
allowed us for that purpose. 



BETHLEHEM. 

The borough of Bethlehem is situated on the north side of the 
Lehigh Eiver, twelve miles above Easton, and about fifty-four 
miles north of Philadelphia. It has always been the principal 
settlement of the Moravians, or United Brethren in the United 
States, and for an entire century retained the principle of its ori- 
ginal organization, to wit, the exclusion of all persons who were 
not members of their church. The circumstances attending the 
immigration of the Brethren from Germany to America were the 
following : — 

The elector of Saxony having expelled the followers of Schwenk- 
feldt* from his dominions, a part of them were permitted by Count 
Zinzendorff to reside for a time in Bertholdsdorff (a large village 
in Upper Lusatia, belonging to the Count, in the vicinity of Herrn- 

* Casper de Schwenkfeldt was a Silesian nobleman, born in 1490, at tbe castle 
of Ossig, in the Duchy of Lignitz. He was for some years counsellor to the duke, 
but afterwards, turning his attention to the study of the Scriptures and the writings 
of the fathers, he joined the Protestants. Subsequently, he adopted peculiar 
opinions for himself, and began to propagate them in Silesia, and in Strasburg, 
Augsburg, and other imperial cities. Everywhere he encountered the enmity of 
the zealots and other sects. His morals were pure, his piety fervent, and his 
sincerity unquestionable. He believed that he received his doctrines from imme- 
diate Divine inspiration, and he differed from Luther in several points. 




P.S. Duval & Son's Mi.PM. 



Rail Roads 



IMMIGRATION OF THE SCHWENKFELDERS. 173 

huth). Upon a second notice being given to them by the Govern- 
ment to quit this and other places, the Count advised them to 
emigrate to America, and to this end the Count, at their request, 
opened a correspondence with the trustees of colonies in Georgia, 
who were residing in London. The matter was finally arranged 
between them, in consequence of which, they left Bertholdsdorff, 
&c, in 1784. On their arrival in Holland, they (in consequence of 
representations made to them by others) proceeded at once to 
Pennsylvania, and settled in the upper part of Montgomery County. 
Notwithstanding this defection on the part of the Schwenkfelders, 
the trustees of the Georgia colonies were unwilling to annul their 
engagements with the Count, and, as a further inducement, offered 
a tract of land in Georgia, on condition that it be cultivated by the 
Brethren. This offer was accepted, because the Brethren hoped 
by these means to become acquainted with the Creek, Chickasaw, 
and Cherokee Indians, and some of them resolved to go thither 
especially for that purpose. 

The first company consisted of fifteen persons, who set out from 
Herrnhuth in November, 1734, conducted by John Toeltschig and 
Anthony Seiffert. The Count gave them written instructions, in 
which he particularly recommended that they should submit them- 
selves to the wise directions and guidance of God in all circum- 
stances, seek to preserve liberty of conscience, avoid all religious 
dispute, and always to keep in view the call, given unto them by 
God himself, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the heathen; 
and further, that they should endeavor, as much as possible, to earn 
their own bread. A promise was likewise given to them that, as 
soon as they had settled, an ordained minister should follow them. 

Upon their arrival at London, they had met with the Rev.~ 
Augustus Gottleib Spangenberg, late Theologus Adjunctus of the 
University of Halle, in Saxony, who had just about that time been 
dismissed from his place on account of some misunderstanding be- 
tween him and other divines of the University. Mr. Spangenberg, 
after being admitted as a member of the Moravian Church, was 
authorized to treat with the trustees of George and General Ogle- 




4 *r -k S 



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Fold-out 
Placeholder 



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future date. 



174 BETHLEHEM. 

thorpe* (the governor of that province, and then in London) re- 
specting their passage, equipments, &c. These colonists sailed 
from Gravesend, in England, on the 3d of February, 1735, accom- 
panied by Mr. Spangenberg, and arrived safely at Savannah in the 
spring. In February, 1736, another company of Moravians arrived 
in Georgia accompanied by Bishop David Nitchman, Peter Boehler, 
&c. In the same ship came General Oglethorpe (the Governor), 
accompanied by John Wesley, whom the Governor had engaged as 
an Episcopal clergyman in the town of Savannah. "This man," says 
Spangenberg, " frequently visited us ; he had a remarkable gift of 
presenting to his hearers the Gospel with great power, and most 
forcibly pressed upon them the absolute necessity of an entire 
change of heart. I soon perceived that the grace of God wrought 
powerfully upon his heart, and we in a short time became very 
intimate, and done to each every favor we possibly could." 

The Moravians who emigrated to Georgia were all very poor. 
Immediately after their arrival, they proceeded to the land assigned 
to them, five miles from Savannah, on the Savannah Eiver, where 

* Mr. Spangenberg, during his stay in London, had frequent conversations with 
General Oglethorpe ; occasionally the topic was on religion. At one time the Gen- 
eral said that one of his friends had described the Moravians to him as a fanatical 
sect, to which he had answered, that the same was said by the Jews of the first 
converts to Christianity ; that the best method of judging of others is by their 
walk and conversation, this in itself elicits truth. "For," said he further, "if we 
believe every report, we are apt to fall into error ourselves, as, for instance, it was 
formerly said of Englishmen that they had long barbed tails, and," said he, "theo- 
logical reasoning could adapt itself to every manner of sophistry (and as examples 
the General gave the following in illustration), viz. : — 

"You do not believe what I believe, neither do Mohammedans believe as I do. 
Therefore you are a Mohammedan. Or another : The Socinians explain a passage 
of Scripture differently than we do, you also explain it different, consequently you 
are a Socinian!" 

The renewed Brethren's (Moravian) Church, by adopting the rules and discipline 
of the Brethren's Church of the 15th century, drew upon themselves the attention 
of the Christian world. Zinzendorff strongly opposed the revival of the old disci- 
pline, yet was obliged to succumb to the majority. Many of those rules, by admit- 
ting them with all their absurd singularities, were not suitable to the times, and 
induced many persons to doubt their sincerity in their religious worship. A per- 
secution followed in the publication of numberless pamphlets, the most of which 
made erroneous charges against them. The Moravians gloried in these persecu- 
tions as suffering for the Gospel's sake; but as they might have avoided persecution 
without sacrificing any essential doctrinal, point, the assumption is improper. 



REV. JOHN WESLEY. 175 

they remained from two to three weeks without any shelter, until 
they had cut timber and put up a house for their accommodation, 
after which they proceeded to clear some lands, &c. They also 
procured a pair of horses and a wagon, from which source they 
derived considerable support, being occasionally employed by the 
citizens of Savannah. Spangenberg says (Risler's Life of Spaiigen- 
herg, p. 127) that at one time the person who had charge of the 
wagon, &c, became very sick of a fever. " In this exigency," says 
he, "I went to the brother's bed, and told him to pray the Lord to 
make him well ; I also knelt down at his bedside and prayed for 
his recovery. After having arisen from my knees, I said to him, 
' Now arise, and believe yourself cured !' and took him by the hand ; 
the brother believed, rose up out of bed, and proceeded to his work 
as usual, entirely recovered." 

Wesley, upon his return to Europe, visited the Moravians at 
Herrnhuth and other places, but he soon found that they differed 
somewhat on doctrinal points. The greatest difficulty, however, 
was occasioned by the difference of opinions on church government, 
and as neither party would succumb to the other, they separated. 
A correspondence was kept up for some time, without any pro- 
pitious results. In one of the letters to "Wesley, the Moravians 
strongly deprecate the promiscuous intercourse (in his assem- 
blages) of the sexes, which practice, they say, will be deleterious 
to true piety ; so also the audible groaning, shouting, &c, of his 
followers, which they compare to "a bottle of spirits left uncorked;" 
by which was intimated that all such, either expressive or joyful 
sensations, should be suppressed or kept under, and not shown to 
others ; as the bottle of spirits, by being left uncorked, would lose 
its strength, so would the spirit of Grod depart with the audible 
expressions; and it is prophetically added in one of those letters,* 
that he (Wesley) with his adherents, would in a short time " go to 
the wall." The Moravian settlement in Georgia, in consequence of 
a requirement by the government to bear arms in the war declared 
between England and Spain in 1738, was broken up. Some of 

* Buedingisclie Sammlung, vol. ii. 



176 BETHLEHEM. 

them proceeded to Pennsylvania in 1738, others followed in 1739, 
conducted by Bishop Nitchman, and the remainder in 1740 under 
the conduct of Peter Boehler. The following account of their settle- 
ment at Nazareth and Bethlehem we extract from a letter written 
by the Eev. Levin T. ReicheL* of Nazareth, to the writer of these 
notes : — 

In 1740, when P. Boehler left Georgia with the last Moravian settlers, he became 
acquainted with Whitefield on board the sloop. The latter was going to Pennsyl- 
vania to buy some land for the purpose of erecting a school for negroes. A certain 
Mr. Seward was to lend the money. This man wrote, April 22d, in his journal : 
"Agreed with Mr. Allen for 5000 acres of land on the forks of the Delaware, at 
£2200 sterling, the conveyance to be made to Mr. Whitefield, and after that 
assigned to me, as security for my advancing the money. Mr. Whitefield proposes 
to give orders for building the negro school on the purchased land, before he leaves 
the province." Whitefield requested P. Boehler, with whom he spent a day at 
Schippach (April 24) to inspect the land for him with some of his brethren, at the 
same time offering them to give them the superintendence of the building, and to 
pay them for the carpenter's work. This offer was accepted, and after Whitefield 
had bought the land, which he called Nazareth, and his commissioners had selected 
the spot for the building, the brethren began the work in May, but were by rainy 
weather and disappointments of the masons engaged for the work so much de- 
tained, that in September only the cellar walls were finished, £300 sterling having 
been expended. Seeing no possibility of finishing the house before winter, they 
built a two story log house, and made a temporary covering to the larger building 
when the first story was up, the marks of which can still be seen. Meanwhile, 
Whitefield had returned again to Philadelphia. He had been in Georgia, and had 
begun there a theological dispute with the only yet remaining Moravian, Hagen, 
concerning predestination and reprobation. Seeing that Boehler defended his 
brother, and hearing many ill reports concerning the Moravians from envious Irish 
neighbors, he ordered them away from his land. A certain Mr. Irish heard of 
these summary proceedings of Whitefield, which were highly disapproved by him, 
and offered them a tract of 500 acres, on which Bethlehem was built. P. Boehler 
returned to Europe January, 1741. Mr. Seward, who had lent the money for the 
Nazareth tract, died the same year, and Whitefield found himself obliged to offer 
his land for sale. Boehler and Spangenberg consulted together, and resolved to 
buy it for the Moravians. Whitefield was willing, provided he might retain 500 
acres for himself. Spangenberg objected to this condition, knowing that only 
religious disputes would be the consequence, and Whitefield was at last obliged, 
for want of means, to sell the whole tract of land to the Brethren (1742), who 
refunded the original sum of £2200, and bore all the expenses for the building. 

In September, 1743, the building was continued, and finished before the close of 
the year. In December, a large company of German emigrants arrived, and 
January 2, 1744, the first religious meeting was held in the house. 

On July 27, 1746, Whitefield paid a visit at Ephratah in company with Brother 
Henry Antes. He was very friendly, and quite astonished to see so many improve- 
ments of all kinds. Especially was he pleased to see some Indian girls in the small 



* Moravian Historian. 



FIRST HOUSE ERECTED. 177 

boarding-school connected with the establishment. One little girl (who had been 
baptized by him in Georgia), named Rebecca Burnside, he found there also. She 
was the first person that died in this school. 

In December, 1755, more than three hundred refugees were, during the Indian 
war, quartered here and in the neighboring places. In the same year, a stockade 
was made. The economy of Ephratah and Nazareth was broken up in 1764. 

The 500 acres mentioned by Mr. Keichel were purchased by the 
Moravians from Mr. Irish.* On the 22d December, 1740, a party 
of Moravian Brethren left Nazareth (where they had been engaged 
since April in building a large building for the celebrated George 
A-Vhitefield, and intended by him as an asylum and a school for 
negroes), and commenced felling trees on the spot where Bethlehem 
now stands. It is said that David Nitchman felled the first tree to 
build the first house (which fact is inscribed on his tombstone). 
This man was familiarly called Father Nitchman, to distinguish 
him from the Bishop, David Nitchman. Early in the spring of 
the year 1741 the first house was completed, and stood until 
1823, when it was removed to make room for the stablinsr of 
the Eagle Hotel, which was opened about that time in the "old 
stone building." By the end of June, 1741, the timber was 
squared for the erection of a more commodious dwelling, and on 
the 28th Sept. the corner-stone was laid with appropriate cere- 
monies, by Bishop David Nitchman, in the presence of seventeen 
brethren and sisters, whose names, inscribed on parchment, were 
deposited in the stone, on the southeast corner of the building. 
The house is still standing, and is the west wing of the old row in 
Church Street, next to the Moravian church. This building is 
unquestionably the most interesting of the few remaining memo- 
rials of the past that have come down to us after the lapse of a 
century. It is invested with peculiar interest. In this house, 
during a number of years, resided the Bishop and ministers of the 
church. Here they met to deliberate on the condition of the work 

* This was one of the three 500 acre tracts owned by Mr. Irish in this vicinity. 
Mr. Irish was a justice of the peace in Bucks County in 1742. He resided then 
at his mill at the Saucon Creek, near its junction with the river Lehigh, and is 
mentioned as the officer to whom Moravians applied respecting the removal of the 
Indians from the Nazareth tract of land. 



178 BETHLEHEM. 

of God among the heathen ; here they knelt and prayed ; from here 
ascended to a throne of grace ardent and humble petitions for 
guidance, assistance, and direction in their arduous duties. In this 
house were congregated frequently the sons of the forest, depu- 
tations from the rude savage tribes of the Wyoming Valley ; the 
Nanticokes, Mohicans, Delawares, and the fiercer Shawaneese, 
decked in their savage finery of feathers and deer-skins, here met 
with a kind welcome and good-will, and smoked the friendly pipe, 
and entered into covenants of peace. Here also was knit more 
closely that tie of brotherly love which cements the Moravians of 
the four quarters of the globe into a family of brothers. 

Count Zinzendorff* arrived at New York in November, 1741, 
and came to Bethlehem in December, and in this house the cele- 
bration of the nativity of Jesus Christ took place on the 24th of 
that month. This celebration suggested to the Count a name for 
the new settlement, and it was accordingly called Bethlehem. In 
1742, another company of colonists arrived from Germany, con- 
ducted by Rev. Peter Boehler, and on the 25th of June of that 
year the congregation was organized, there being 127 Moravian 
brethren and sisters present. 

After the buildings above described were erected, the improve- 
ments were continued in the village, a description of which is given 
in the Bethlehem Souvenir.^ " Whoever has visited Bethlehem must 

* Lewis, Count Zinzendorff, was a Saxon nobleman of wealth, and of great talents 
and piety. In 1722, he received, on his estate (Bertholdsdorff), in Upper Lnsatia, 
a company of Moravian exiles, descendents of followers of the reformer and martyr 
John Huss, who had left their homes, for conscience sake, on the 17th of June, in 
the same year, and Herrnhuth, the seat of the first Moravians, was commenced. 
As the ordinances and discipline of the old church of the Moravian and Bohemian 
Brethren were here retained, and thus perpetuated, the present church of the 
Brethren is a continuation of the former, and as such, the oldest of the Protestant 
churches, dating March 1, 1457, as the day of their origin. 

Professor Ebeling, part vi. p. 165, History of Penna., speaking of Zinzendorff, 
says : " The count, notwithstanding all his energy, had too little consideration, 
with a lack of gentleness, and a mind not sufficiently illuminated, so that his con- 
versions amongst Christian sects, as well as Indians, left no abiding effect. The 
confusion amongst the Germans was rather increased than diminished by him. 
Already in 1743, he left America very much dissatisfied ; his more sensible brethren 
built Bethlehem." 

f Published in 1857. 



UNIQUE APPEARANCE OF THE TOWN. 179 

have been struck with the unique appearance of the venerable pile 
(viz., the l old row' east of the Moravian Church), built in a style 
of architecture so different from what is met with in this country, 
even in settlements which have their origin more remotely in the 
past than Bethlehem. The hip roofs and double row of dormer 
windows, the massive masonry supported by heavy buttresses, and 
the curiously wrought belfry capping the centre, are so many features 
borrowed from the manor houses and churches of the European 
homes of our forefathers. This compact assemblage of buildings 
constituted in itself, for a number of years, the entire settlement. 
In it lived all the divisions of the congregation. Of the log build- 
ing at the west end mention has been already made. The wing 
was next completed in 1751, its upper floor constituting the public 
place of worship (consecrated July 10th, of the same year), and 
the lower a common refectory. The centre was built as early as 
1743; it contained a kitchen below and dwelling-rooms above. The 
portion to the right, which forms the third side of the square, was 
built at different times, a part in 1744 and a part in 1752. The latter 
stands on the corner of the square, and was originally intended for 
the young men or ' single brethren.' The extreme east wing 
dates back as far as 1773 (these two last mentioned are at present 
the houses for 'single sisters'). On the removal of the 'single 
brethren,' in 1748, to their new ' choir house' (the present old 
school building of the Young Ladies' Seminary), the entire eastern 
portion of the edifice was assigned to the young women or ' single 
sisters.' The erection of such spacious houses in a new country 
naturally led to strange and erroneous surmises on the part of per- 
sons who were unacquainted with the regulations upheld by the 
Brethren. The calumnious assertions that they were 'Papists in 
disguise' was impressed on the minds of many who, through igno- 
rance, recognized in these houses veritable representatives of 
monasteries and nunneries. In our own enlightened day there are 
those to be found whose imperfect acquaintance with the church of 
the United Brethren and that of Rome leaves them unable to dis- 
criminate between the usages, customs, and spirit of the two." 



180 BETHLEHEM. 

The prominent features of the organization consummated on the 
24th of June, 1742, and mentioned above, were — 

Firstly. An entire coincidence with the doctrines of the Moravian 
Church in Germany. 

Secondly. The like disposition of the sexes and various conditions 
of life into classes or "choirs," as was usual in the German congre- 
gations — who resided in separate houses, and each in charge of a 
special spiritual adviser. 

Thirdly. Keeping holy both Saturday and Sunday. This was a 
deviation from the custom of the Moravian Church in Germany, 
and was here introduced by Zinzendorff, as he held that the com- 
mand to keep holy the Sabbath did not apply to the Sunday; but 
as he reverenced the Sunday in commemoration of the resurrection 
of Christ, therefore he considered that Christians were under obli- 
gation to keep both, and abstain from all unnecessary secular em- 
ployments on both days* 

Fourthly. This feature was peculiar to Bethlehem. That after 
the example of the first church of Christians at Jerusalem, all the 
proceeds of labor were to be put into a common stock. This com- 
munist system was called "an economy." 

The doctrinal belief of the Moravians has always been a very 
undefined and unsettled one. They constantly avoid argument or 
dispute on these points. Their distinctive features are pre-emi- 
nently of a moral, practical, and social character, by which, indeed, 
they are widely distinguished from most other denominations. 
They profess to receive the Augsburg confession as the clearest 
statement of their belief, and hence, in absence of any creed of their 
own, they point to that as the one which comes nearest to their 
views. 

The chief doctrinal opinions are : They believe in the inspira- 
tion of the Scriptures, and their ample sufficiency and authority as 

* This resolution was strictly followed for some time, Tout on account of inter- 
fering with the secular employments of the Brethren, the custom gradually fell 
into disuse ; yet the principles upon which the resolution was founded were 
acknowledged by all to be correct and in accordance with a strict construction of 
the Bible command respecting the observance of the Sabbath. 



PECULIARITIES OF THE MORAVIANS. 181 

the sole revelation of divine truth. They believe in the Trinity, 
and give great prominence to the history, nature, works, sufferings, 
and death of Christ. They carefully avoid abstruse argument on 
every topic of theology, and endeavor to make practical piety the 
principal aim of their teachings. They reject absolute predestina- 
tion, and they believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. 
The separation or keeping apart of the sexes has always (being 
a novelty), from the commencement of the renewed Brethren's 
Church, been a fruitful theme of comment. Persons outside the 
Moravian community have represented it as an institution similar 
to the usages of the Eoman Catholics, and the names of monasteries 
and nunneries to the Brethren's and Sisters' Houses were usu- 
ally applied. Curiosity prompting people to see for themselves, it 
follows, therefore, that almost every visitor at Bethlehem during 
the last hundred years has desired to be admitted into these houses, 
while the larger number of them (more particularly in the early 
part of that period) were not satisfied unless they had pried into 
every nook and corner, in order to satisfy or correct their suspi- 
cions. The good-natured Moravians patiently submitted to this 
annoyance (for such in reality it was).* The usual custom was to 

* From the earliest time three brethren had been appointed to attend to 
strangers visiting the town. The traveller, Chasteleux, mentions Nicholas Gar- 
rison as one ; another was John Bonn. This brother had been the steward at 
Christian's Spring for a number of years. His name appears already in 1762 as 
collector of taxes for Bethlehem township. Familiarly he was called Pappy Bonn. 
He was a great favorite with the young ladies at the Seminary. To him succeeded 
Francis Thomas. His name was as familiar as a household word to those persons 
who visited Bethlehem from 1788 to 1822. Daddy Thomas's office was to conduct 
visitors through the school ; to show them objects of interest in the town ; to carry 
letters to and from the post-office ; and to notify the principal of the school of the 
arrival of patrons with daughters or wards. His leisure permitted him to be 
present also at festivities and holiday enjoyments. He visited the school almost 
daily. In the capacity of letter carrier he was always welcome. How it pleased 
the old man, on entering the yard by the west gate with a budget on post-day, to 
be greeted from the windows by the impatient girls who anticipated his coming, 
and the accustomed joke made to their own cost and disappointment : " A letter 
for me, Daddy Thomas ?" " one for me ?" and " one for me ?" " And why not ?" 
he would reply, gravely handing the eager Miss one superscribed with her neigh- 
bor's name. "There, my dear!" "That's too bad, Daddy Thomas, you love to 
tease me." How friendly his manner, when escorting visitors through the house. 
His mirthful jests never tired by repetition, nor did his happy comments on the 



182 BETHLEHEM. 

take the visitor into every apartment, which, in the case of the 
timid females (the single sisters) who were always busily employed 
at their work, was exceedingly indelicate, inasmuch as they were 
compelled to submit to being stared at by gentlemen as if they 
were creatures of another race, which produced many a blush of 
offended womanly modesty. 

Brethren's and Sisters' Houses were in themselves admirable 
retreats, where either males or females could economize their earn- 
ings with more ease than otherwise, and with no loss of the com- 
forts of life. 

The origin of these establishments was by a voluntary act of 
twelve single sisters, in Herrnhuth, in 1730, who combined to live 
together under one roof, and who agreed to devote their lives in 
serving the Lord, and receive no offer of marriage unless it were 
brought to them by one of the ministers of the congregation. The 
single brethren subsequently formed an association of somewhat 
similar character. These houses, being found to forward piety, 
were, therefore, established at Bethlehem, &c, and were greatly 
beneficial there, under the peculiar principles of organization which 
circumstances forced them to adopt. 

Mr. Spangenberg, during the greater part of the twenty years 
continuance at the " economy" (from 1742 to 1762), was the prime 
mover in and superintendent of the Moravian affairs in America. 
He was eminently qualified for performing the multifarious duties 
which devolved upon him, and amidst many difficulties and dan- 
gers, by an indomitable perseverance and well directed efforts, he 
carried his dear family (as he termed the association) through them 
all with an astonishing success. Spangenberg was an able man. 
To carry out his plans, he was aware that a combined effort was 
absolutely requisite. The Duke de Rochefoucault* properly re- 
appearance of objects and individuals in the room. " How well you look to-day, 
young ladies ! all pictures of health ! and here is your beautiful needle-work ! you 
can make the strawberries, but you can't eat them !" Thus, the old man became a 
universal favorite. Year after year he made new friends with succeeding genera- 
tions. He died in 1822, in the 90th year of his age. — Beth. Souvenir. 

* See his Travels through America. 



MORAL STATE OF THE GERMANS. 183 

marks, "one single will animated the whole," and this will was 
centred in Spangenberg. 

The establishment of Moravian congregations in America had in 
view the single object of propagating the gospel among the Indians. 
To do so conveniently the lands were purchased, by which it was 
intended to give a place of refuge to such missionaries, who, by 
reason of age or other circumstances, were disabled from perform- 
ing efficient service. Bethlehem was neither more nor less than a 
missionary station. What has been done by the Moravian mission- 
aries, the confined limits of these notes will not permit us to recount. 
In fact, it is before the world in many other publications ; but we 
may venture to remark that they have performed a great deal more 
good in the missionary cause than any other church. That they 
were the pioneers in the good cause, is well known to all, and the 
success attending their labors may, in a great measure, be attri- 
buted to their perfect missionary system. 

" Communities" (the fundamental principles of which is com- 
monalty of property) have, in Pennsylvania, always proved failures. 
That this arrangement prospered for a time in Bethlehem, was 
owing to a cause not existing in other cases. It was the outside 
pressure that rendered it firm ; as soon as that pressure subsided, 
the compact loosened, and at length dissolved. The following is 
given in explanation : — 

Heinrich Muhlenberg, Schlatter, Zinzendorff and others, in de- 
scribing the moral and religious state of the Germans in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1742 to 1750, &c, all agree that there was a very general 
lack of both. In one passage, Muhlenberg remarks : " I could 
shed tears of blood over the poor Germans of Pennsylvania ; they 
are really fast verging towards a state of heathenism." His reports 
to Germany teem with such lamentations for his countrymen. 
Schlatter and Zinzendorff reiterate like sentiments. Spangenberg 
says it was usual to designate a person who professes no religion, 
that he was of the " Pennsylvania religion." 

The Germans, at the time of their emigrating to America, pos- 
sessed some degree of knowledge, and their settling upon the wilds 



184 BETHLEHEM. 

of Pennsylvania, where there were no churches or schools within a 
distance of ten to twenty or more miles, the children, of course, 
grew up as uneducated as the Indians ; the grandchildren were, if 
possible, more in darkness; they retrograded more and more; 
therefore the inhabitants where the earliest settlements were made 
in Pennsylvania, as Berks, Lancaster, and York Counties, are even 
at the present time less informed than those of the same class in 
Northampton and Lehigh. Many persons of observation testify to 
this fact, and the school reports of 1857, &c, corroborate it also. 
Another cause (and probably the main one) that contributed to this 
effect, was the sudden appearance of this six hundred well educated 
and enlightened Moravians upon the stage of action in Northamp- 
ton County in 1742 to 1746. Such an occurrence has not taken 
place in any other of the United States, and the effect produced by 
six hundred intelligent persons, dropping, as it were,, from the 
clouds into a region of darkness such as is described by Muhlen- 
berg and others, may well be imagined. This " light set upon a 
hill," shedding abroad its refulgent rays, spread terror into the 
minds of those who came within its piercing effects. Their de- 
formity, heretofore obscured, became visible, and, consequently, 
this light was simultaneously attacked from every quarter. The 
German and the Irish population of the county, who previously 
had always met at daggers' points, were in this case united in depre- 
cating the intrusion. Both the Irish and the Germans, in their 
quarrels among themselves, after having exhausted their vocabu- 
lary of expletives, in describing a bad man, to cap the climax, were 
wont to add that such a one was as bad as a " d — d Herrnhutter." 

Spangenberg says that, " the Moravians dreaded the Irish more 
than the more savage Indians." As early as 1746, the Moravians 
had established fifteen schools in the camp of the enemy, where the 
children were taught gratis,, and frequently furnished with board 
and lodging. These schools were opened and continued very fre- 
quently under imprecations and threats, but when one door was 
closed against them, another was almost miraculously opened. 

The most prolific theme of remark, by persons outside of the 



MORAVIAN MARRIAGES. 185 

Moravian connection, was the manner in which their marriages 
were arranged. That these were singular, cannot be denied, yet it 
does not follow that they were unreasonable, or do not admit of a 
favorable construction. Many queer accounts have been published 
respecting the attending circumstances, &c. For example, Lieu- 
tenant Anbury,* who, in the course of his travels, visited Bethlehem 
in 1778, says: "If a woman objects to marry a man proposed to 
her, she is put at the bottom of the list, which contains upwards of 
sixty or seventy, and the poor girl stands not the least chance of 
a husband till she arrives again at the top." Another account 
appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, February, 1859, stating : 
" No man or woman knew who was to be the partner of his or her 
life, until the moment the indissoluble union took place. Some- 
times the blooming and beautiful maiden found herself tied to the 
object of her aversion and contempt, and so also the vigorous and 
athletic young man suddenly discovered that some feeble, deformed,, 
and sickly creature of the opposite sex had become his partner for 
life." This and similar stories are of course fabricated. Where- 
the latter writer (who appears to be a clergyman) met with these 
ideas, does not appear. 

The writer of this work was a member of the Moravian Church 
for nearly fifty years, and believes himself somewhat acquainted with 
these matters ; but as Benjamin Franklin inquired about it when in 
Bethlehem in 1756, we will listen to his statement :f "I inquired,"' 
says he, " concerning the Moravian marriages — whether it was true- 
that they were by lot ! I was told that lots were used only in par- 
ticular cases. That generally, when a young man found himself 
disposed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, who con- 
sulted the elder ladies that governed the young women. As these 
elders of the different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers 
and dispositions of their respective pupils, they could best judge 
what matches were suitable, and their judgments were generally 
acquiesced in. But if, for example, it should happen that two or 

* A British officer who had been taken prisoner by the Americans, 
f Jared Sparks' Life of Franklin, vol. i. p. 203. 

13 



186 BETHLEHEM. 

three young women were found to be equally proper for the young 
man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected, ' If the matches are 
not made by the mutual choice of the parties, some of them may 
chance to be very unhappy.' 'And so they may,' answered my 
informer, 'if you let the parties choose for themselves;' which, in- 
deed, I could not deny." This version is not very far from being 
correct, excepting that the lot was resorted to in all cases. There 
were other things taken into consideration besides those alluded to 
— such as the ability of the man to maintain a family, the ex- 
pediency of the marriage in regard to the society in general, which 
points were separately investigated by the conference (or secular 
tribunal), as well as some other matters by the clergy, assembled 
in the capacity of a conference. These things in many cases pre- 
vented the candidate for marriage from having his wishes gratified. 
It is not to be doubted but that the two hundred and nineteen 
single Moravian men on the list of 1756, residing in different parts 
of the county, would nearly all have been willing to marry, if no 
other impediments had existed. There being allowed only one 
married couple to each of the trades in the town, no other could be 
placed in the stead of the incumbent before his death, &c. More than 
one-half of the two hundred and nineteen, with all their willingness 
to marry, died bachelors; not from any choice of their own, but from 
necessity. It may be asked, " Why did they then remain with the 
society?"* The answer is this: Every Moravian, from 1742 to 

* From about the year 1800, the Moravian Society in the county of Northampton 
may date the commencement of their decline. The marriage restriction becoming 
unpopular, some left the connection. Those persons generally remained in the 
county, where by degrees the most of them rose to posts of honor. Wherever a Mo- 
ravian settled, his services, in all cases requiring educated persons, were brought 
into requisition, and it was by such means that society in general was benefited. 
As parties began to come in close connection with each other, prejudices were laid 
aside, and harmony encouraged. The clergy, with all their power, and by holding 
on to the purse strings, exerted themselves to the very utmost to retain the reins of 
government, but their influence over the minds of men became gradually weakened. 
Concessions were made from time to time to the growing power of the members, 
which, instead of satisfying them, rendered them more bold in demanding greater 
freedom, and which finally hastened the compromise of 1844, after which time the 
great hierarchy of the Moravian Church became to some extent subdued, but not 
overthrown or annihilated. 



MORAVIAN MARRIAGES. 187 

1800, willingly submitted to every inconvenience rather than leave 
the society; for outside the society, he could never expect to have 
a friend. A runaway Moravian was in fact considered an unfit 
associate for any one ; he was kicked and cuffed by all outsiders, as 
well as despised by all Moravians, who looked upon him as one 
who was temporally and eternally lost. If he possessed any moral 
and religious feelings at his departure, he was hated and mocked by 
those outside, whom the Moravians called " the world." This is 
what we mean by the "outside pressure;" without it, the Moravian 
system of communism could not have existed for five years. 

The single men in the Moravian towns, who were largely in ex- 
cess of the other " choirs," were considered the bone and sinew of 
the society, and the experiment then making depended upon their 
work. Married persons could not be expected to be as useful, 
while other duties interfered. Spangenberg, writing to Germany 
for more colonists, always added, "send us strong and hearty 
young men," fitted to work on the farms, &c. Persons unacquainted 
with the system characterized the Moravian clergy as being unfa- 
vorable to the married state. This conjecture was erroneous. The 
219 single men were, with few exceptions, very poor. If they had 
married, the erecting of the dwellings would have devolved upon 
the society, which it had not the means of doing, and, besides this, 
it would have destroyed the object which was had in view in 
making the settlements. 

To return. The keeping separate persons of opposite sexes was 
very strictly enforced, consequently the unmarried had very little 
knowledge of each other, and very frequently never heard each 
other's names previous to the marriage ceremony, or, at the farthest, 
but a few days before. The whole arrangement was left to the 
clergy. Sometimes it happened that an English woman was mar- 
ried to a German, neither of them being able to understand one 
word of the other's language. (The writer is acquainted with an 
old lady who spoke and could understand no other language but 
the English, and who married a German who did not know one 
word of English. They lived very happily together for many 



188 BETHLEHEM. 

years.) It is very questionable whether by being deprived of the 
" courting season," in any degree detracts from the prospects of 
happiness in the married state. The writer has never heard of 
more than one case in which the Moravian method of marriage by 
lot has proved unfortunate, and the records of the county do not 
show that one suit for divorce has ever been entered during a 
whole century by any Moravian. This test speaks in favor of mar- 
rying by lot. 

The wedding ceremony was always performed in the church in 
the presence of the whole congregation. The first night after the 
wedding the newly married couple always slept in the minister's 
house. 

In connection with this, an Episcopal clergyman, who visited 
Bethlehem in 1799 (J. G. Ogden), says: "According to con- 
stant practice, single beds are used by unmarried persons. When 
a couple are united in holy wedlock, and become heads of a family, 
these two beds and bedsteads are placed so contiguous to each 
other that they are covered with a general blanket or counterpane. 
This outer covering designates the lodging of some married per- 
sons. It is convenient, in case of the sickness of either party, or 
the nursing of children. These bedsteads have head, foot, and 
side-boards." 

The married women were known by wearing a light blue silk 
ribbon as a cap tie under the chin. These caps were very close 
fitting, made of fine cambric, with a broad band of lawn around the 
forehead, to keep the cap down. In German it was called a schnepfen 
haube (snipe-bill cap), owing to the cut being in the shape of a 
snipe's bill. It remained in use until 1818, and notwithstanding the 
great exertions made at various synods in Germany, by the Ame- 
rican deputies, to be permitted to dispense with its use, it found so 
much favor with the clergy there, that it was continued ; and even 
in 1818 it required all the eloquence of the American deputies to 
be relieved of this absurd relic of antiquity. Great was the rejoic- 
ing among the Moravians in America when the clergy consented 
to grant the petition. Every female above twelve years old was 



MORAVIAN CHILDREN". 189 

obliged to wear this symbol of Moravianism. Girls between the 
ages of 12 and 18 years, wore dark red ribbon as a tie; single women 
above 18 years of age, wore light pink ribbon, and widows a white 
ribbon. Most of the clergy of former days adhered to trifles in dress 
•with as much tenacity as if the salvation of the people depended 
upon them. The current fashions were avoided for such a length of 
time that Moravian females, with their oddities, became the laughing- 
stock of all around them. This cap assisted, in a great measure, 
to preserve the Moravian exclusiveness, being the badge that every 
sister was distinguished by. At the commencement of the nine- 
teenth century some began secretly to lay it off when on a visit to 
cities, or elsewhere abroad. 

During the continuance of the "economy," from 1742 to 1762, 
the fathers and mothers being constantly at work,* their children 
were taken from them (sometimes when not even one year old) and 
kept in large houses (or nurseries), where they were cared for by old 
or disabled brethren and sisters. These children were also put to 
work early. Spangeuberg tells us that they could spin and pick 
wool when they were four years old. Great care was taken to keep 
the children free from everything that had the least semblance of 
evil, and therefore they were not allowed to come in contact with 
persons whose associations were of a worldly character, but were 
brought up in all purity and holiness. They were not allowed to 
be out of the sight of those under whose charge they were, and 
even during the hours of recreation the supervision was not the 
less strict. The boys were in nowise allowed to associate with the 
girls; every precaution was taken to keep them separated, and a 
transgression was always followed by its appropriate punishment. 
Children, on arriving at the age of twelve, were transferred from 
the nursery to the sisters' house and the brethren's house, where 
they were taught trades of various kinds. At that age they were 
formally received into the boys' or great girls' " choirs." The great 

* Married persons met together only once or twice a week. The brother lived 
in the men's house and the sister in the women's house. For some years there 
was a lack of dwelling-houses. 



190 BETHLEHEM. 

girls had their rooms separate from the single sisters, and contained 
from 10 to 12 in each room, and were under the charge of their 
spiritual adviser, who was a single sister, in whom the clergy had 
confidence, as also under the more immediate supervision of another 
elderly sister in each room, who watched all their movements ; and 
every word uttered by them, a laugh, or even a smile, received an 
interpretation ; and it may be said with truth, these superintendents 
became acquainted with their " almost every thought." This sister 
was under obligations to make a daily report to the spiritual adviser, 
who reported her observations every week to the clergyman under 
whose charge they were more immediately placed. The clergy of 
the different " choirs" met weekly to confer on the reports of each 
"choir." Nothing remained unknown or unobserved. In church, 
the females sat on one side and the males on the other. The clergy 
placed themselves in front, facing the congregation, together with all 
their assistants, or those that in anywise had supervision over any 
of the " choirs." Thus they could observe any deviation from the 
rules. If perchance one of the great girls or single sisters (those 
above 18 years old) should be caught in a look towards the men's 
side, she was, immediately after service, cited to appear before her 
superior and sharply taken to account for the misdemeanor ; but 
if this did not suffice, she was brought before the assemblage of 
the clergy, and was there sentenced to be punished and degraded 
before the whole sisterhood. After several weeks of contrite con- 
duct, she could hope for absolution. The great girls had no per- 
mission to walk out into the village unless accompanied by one or 
the other of her superiors ; and if, on passing a male, she should 
unconsciously look at him, a severe reprimand was sure to follow. 
Walks along the Lehigh Eiver or other localities were generally 
taken on Sunday afternoons, when they were obliged to walk two 
by two, attended by the superiors ; the young brethren likewise 
walked out at the same time, attended by their superiors : and the 
precaution was used that if the sisters went eastwardly, the breth- 
ren's orders were to go westwardly ; for both to walk in the same 
direction or vicinity was strictly forbidden, for fear of meeting each 



INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THE SEXES PROHIBITED. 191 

other. If by some unforeseen accident a meeting of a sister and 
brother could not be avoided, the orders were that they should both 
look downwards or sideways, to avoid the sin fraught with such 
great danger to their souls. Bidding the time to each other was 
consequently strictly forbidden. A brother had at one time so far 
transgressed this rule as to greet a sister with a "good morning," 
at which the sister became so much frightened that the blood rushed 
up and crimsoned her cheeks, and after arriving at home she was 
indisposed for some time. It is said, however, that she outlived 
the occurrence. 

In conversation together, the sisters were forbidden to mention 
the name of any of the male sex (excepting the clergyman), even 
the name of a brother was not exempted from this restriction ; 
every thought of the male sex was endeavored to be eradicated. 
No sister would have dared to walk along the pavement in front 
of the Brethren's House, and no brother was at liberty to extend 
his walk to the neighborhood of the Sisters' House. An infringe- 
ment was sure to be followed by punishment, or even the threat of 
the "consilium ab eundi." Among many other ridiculous absurdi- 
ties was the washing process. The habiliments of the male and 
female were not permitted to be put promiscuously into the tub, 
as it was considered by the clergy that the contact they were sub- 
jected to encounter might prove dangerous to the virtue of the 
wearers ; and it is a well known fact that the timid sister of 1742 
to 1764, would have shrunk from or recoiled at touching anything 
that had been handled by a male, for fear of contamination. It is 
true that the females, through this absurd training, were not only 
kept in pristine simplicity and innocence, but likewise in total 
ignorance. 

All letters written or received passed the inspection of the supe- 
riors. 

Governor Denny on one occasion having appointed Bethlehem as 
the meeting place of the Indians and commissioners, to negotiate 
the treaty in 1757, Mr. Spangenberg strongly protested against it, 
for fear that the brethren and sisters by coming in contact with so 



192 BETHLEHEM. 

many people might peradventure receive harm to their souls. 
The treaty (in consequence of this opposition) was held at Baston. 
Most frightful ideas were inculcated into the minds of the young 
of both sexes in regard to people outside the congregation, called 
"the world." A threat of being sent away from the congregation 
struck terror to the heart of the inexperienced Moravian. This 
threat was used with much success by the clergy until about the 
commencement of the present century, when it began to fail in its 
effects, and it was the great bugbear by which the system was 
upheld. 

The following acknowledgment of errors in the Moravian Church 
will answer this question fully; and coming from the oldest and yet 
living bishop of the Moravians, deserves due credit. Mr. Benade 
has always been considered as a true and honest Christian, but it 
appears that he taught false doctrines, which he herein recants :* — 

It appears proper that I should, in this place, make a few personal ohservations. 
Born and educated in the Brethren's Church, I was engaged in the service of the 
same in various ways and places for nearly sixty years. During all this time I 
believed and taught what the Brethren's Church believes and teaches. About 
eight years ago I retired from active service in the Church, and, during this period 
of my retirement my time has been chiefly devoted to reading and studying the 
sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, to the end that I might see the 
truth, and, by the grace of God, might think, and speak, and act according to it, 
and with the prayer that the Lord would himself lead me by His Spirit into all 
truth. This study of the Bible has proved of immense value to me. Many, many 
portions of Holy Writ, which had remained dark and inexplicable, have become 
clear and open in the unfolding of their true sense. New views and convictions 
concerning the true nature of Christianity have been given me ; and I have learnt 
to know better, and to perceive more clearly what the true but invisible church of 
Jesus Christ is, and what the so-called Christian churches are, as recognized by 
different names in visible Christendom. Thus, also, have I obtained a different 
view of the Brethren's Church, which convictions are the result alone of the 
teachings of the Word and of the Spirit of truth. And since I do verily believe 
that the idea which has hitherto obtained in the Brethren's Church, in reference 
to the Eldership of Jesus, is both erroneous and injurious, I cannot otherwise than 
desire that it should be entirely removed from the mind and thought of the whole 
church. I would ask, what but the notion that Jesus Christ was himself the 
Chief Elder of the Brethren's Church — a notion which has no ground whatever in 
the Word of God, but is an addition made by men, and forbidden, Deut. iv. 2, and 
Rev. xxii. 18 — and that for this reason the Brethren's Church enjoyed His special 
and immediate leading and guidance, could have induced such a declaration as 



* Extract from a printed pamphlet directed to the Provincial Synod, of which 
Mr. Benade was a member. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ERRORS. 193 

the following, that we can say with entire truth — " We surely are a work of His 
own hand, and can clearly perceive how He has ruled us as His people from the 
first!" Synodal Results of 1848, par. 12, p. 29 — an assumption which is not war- 
ranted and justified by the true state of the Brethren's Church during the various 
periods of its existence, and more especially by its condition at the present time. 

Too long has this unscriptural doctrine of the Eldership of Jesus upheld in the 
minds of men, both within and without the church, so exalted an idea of it, that 
many in their simplicity have imagined that if they were so fortunate as to belong 
to such a church, and to have their names inscribed upon its books as members, 
they might regard themselves as already in the outer courts of heaven, and secure 
of their salvation, and on that account have forgotten to make sure their calling 
and election, and so have a care that their names were written in heaven. (Luke 
x. 20.) Too long has this doctrine been the means of nourishing and sustaining 
a spiritual pride in the Brethren's Church, which has caused it to look down with 
contempt upon other churches, and has induced the belief and remark, at least in 
times past, that those who did not belong to them were necessarily of the world, 
and therefore must be lost with those who are of the world. Such are some of the 
sad consequences of the Church's aberration from the letter and spirit of the sacred 
Scriptures. Therefore should we reflect whence we are fallen, and do such work 
of repentance, that the infinite value and divine authority of the precious Word of 
God might come to be fully recognized and acknowledged throughout the Brethren's 
Church. This Church is in a very critical position at the present time, being like 
unto " a house which is divided against itself, and therefore cannot stand." (Matt, 
xii. 25.) The differences of opinion, however, which divide the Brethren now do 
not relate to fundamental articles of Christian doctrine, faith, or life, but to matters 
of which the one has a merely imaginary value, and the other is of no essential 
importance. A church heretofore united, although its several provinces have been 
situated in various countries of the world, should not be brought into disunion by any 
non-essentials, but should rather humble itself before the Lord, acknowledge and 
confess its backslidings and errors, and pray to Him that if its continued existence 
be according to His will, it may be built up and anew united in that ivhich is the 
chief and better part, upon the ground of the apostles and prophets, of ivhich Christ is 
the chief Corner-Stone. 

In conclusion, I may be permitted to express the fervent desire that the Breth- 
ren's Church, and all other churches, may regard as the first and highest object 
of their strivings, and as the privilege most specially to be sought after, the coming 
of the kingdom of God to them, and its manifestation in their life, as a kingdom, 
which is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. xiv. 17), so 
that through them, by works of love to God (1 John v. 3), by works of charity 
towards the neighbor (1 Cor. xiii. 13), the one and true Church of Jesus Christ 
may be more widely spread throughout the whole earth. 

ANDREW BENADE. 

Bethlehem, August 9, 1856. 

The experiment by the Moravians of preventing intercourse be- 
tween the sexes was an unnatural restriction, uncalled for by the 
laws of God or man. It was carrying a precaution for prevention 
of evil to an unwarrantable extreme, for nature never intended 
such a separation as was exemplified by them; and even admitting 



194 BETHLEHEM. 

that "prevention is better than cure," yet conduct founded upon 
such principles altogether would entail upon us far more harm than 
good. If the secret results of the operation of this unnatural ex- 
periment had been exposed to view, it would have been discarded 
many years previous to the time of its actual abandonment. The sys- 
tem prior to 1762 had become so unpopular that a partial alteration 
then took place, and its continuance is to be ascribed solely to the 
fanatical hierarchy of the then Moravian Church. 

The Moravians were always fond of music ; both males and 
females sang anthems, and here the precaution of preventing both 
sexes to come too near each other was also used. The males were 
placed at one end of the church, and the females at the other. To 
show that Moravian females even in the nineteenth century were 
not much acquainted with the world at large, a lady mentioned to 
the writer that she had never heard an oath (and then on shipboard 
by sailors), until she was seventeen years old, in 1825. We may 
readily suppose that many lived a much longer time, and died 
without having heard God's name taken in vain. 

The single men, of course, could not be so strictly guarded ; their 
employments necessarily brought them more in contact with per- 
sons who were not Moravians, yet every possible avenue was care- 
fully closed by which that contact would be deleterious to them. 
Whenever it could be done, the older and more trustful brethren 
transacted all the business ; their duty was to watch all others, and 
in case of any deviation immediately report the same to the clergy. 
In the evening no young man, under any circumstance, could leave 
the Brethren's House, unless attended by an elder; and if by some 
chance he was found speaking to a young sister, both parties were 
sent away from the congregation instanter, and it was generally 
considered that they were lost both for time and eternity.* 

The writer's sentiments in regard to Moravians are so well 

* About the year 1815, the Brethren's House had lost all of the original design 
of its organization. The young brethren could not be held any longer under the 
control of the existing rules. These rules were openly transgressed by the whole 
brotherhood. The clergy were defied to apply the " consilium ab eundi," which 
formerly had been so unsparingly applied. The clergy, by various means, endea- 



FORMATION OF BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP. 195 

expressed by the author of the revised edition of Chasteleux's 
Travels, in 1827, that the passage is copied. 

" The Moravians are a set of Christians, so distinguished hy the purity of their 
manners, the scrupulous morality of their principles, and the virtuous and bene- 
volent effects of their doctrines and examples, that children of the most rigid of 
other denominations are sent to them for education. If sectarians are driven by 
the violence of despotic governments into extreme fanaticism, it is not so in a 
country where ' error of opinion may be safely tolerated when reason is left free to 
combat it.' In the United States, where no separate church or denomination is 
established by law, many of the singularities and asperities of the heterodox per- 
suasions or sects have vanished before the liberty of discussion, the friendly inter- 
change of opinion, and the harmony of social intercourse. Many of the rites and 
practices formerly imputed to the strange schismatics which spring up in every 
country where they are permitted to exist, are now matters of recollection only, 
and no part of the present faith and practice." 

On the 10th of March, 1746, the following petition was presented 
to the Bucks County Court for the formation of Bethlehem Town- 
ship, viz: — 
To the Honorable the Court now met together in Newtown : 

The Humble Petition of the Inhabitants of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Gnadenthal, 
in Bucks County, sheweth : That your petitioners being desirous of settling a town- 
ship to be also called Bethlehem, between the east and west branches of the river 
Delaware ; and whereas, there will be more townships in the forks of said river, 
that each of them may have a proper share of barren land for the use of roads, as 
well as of good land ; therefore, 

Your petitioners humbly request this Honorable Court will grant them liberty 
to have their said township line run in breadth east and west about seven miles, 
across the Managers' Creek, and in length about nine or ten miles towards the 
Blue Mountains. 

And your petitioners shall thankfully acknowledge the same. Signed, 
Henry Antes, Frederick Cammerhoff, J. Spangenberg, 

Nathaniel Seidel, Christoph. Pyrleus, George Neiser, 

John Brownfield, J. Okely, Jasper Payne, 

Sam. Powell, Jas. Burnside, Joseph Powell. 

Mathias Weiss, 

The petition was read, and it was agreed that they might have 
a township ; but it was not surveyed before 1762, when it was 
done by George Grolkowsky. It appears from the following petition 

vored to recall some of them to a sense of duty, under the impression that by 
accomplishing this they could retain their power over them, and by sending a few 
refractory ones from the congregation the revolt could be quelled ; but this not 
succeeding, the Brethren's House was abolished in Bethlehem, and the Boarding- 
School took possession of the Brethren's House in 1815. In Nazareth, also, soon 
after, the Brethren's House was discontinued, and the building rented to private 
families. The abolishment of these houses had become a matter of necessity. 



196 BETHLEHEM. 

that no taxes had been paid before 1746, and then not more than 
seven pounds per annum. After the formation of Northampton 
County, a tax was assessed on the single men, of nine shillings 
each, which increased the taxes of the Moravians very much, as 
they had such a large number of single men among them. This 
gave rise to a petition to the Assembly. Wm. Edmonds was elected 
for the purpose of carrying the matter through the Assembly; he, 
however, signally failed. The petition of 1759 is for the same 
purpose ; this also failed. There are some very odd arguments 
used by Spangenberg in the petition. 

On the 28th of March, 1759, a petition was presented to the Assembly by Wil- 
liam Edmonds, in behalf of the United Brethren residing at Bethlehem, and other 
parts of their settlement in the County of Northampton, setting forth 

That the said Brethren have paid, for several years past, great taxes for the sun- 
dry large tracts of land which they occupy in six several contiguous townships in 
the said county, for the valuable improvements they have made thereon, and for 
the considerable stock of cattle they have raised, for the trades they exercise, but 
particularly and chiefly on account of the number of single men among them ; 
that the said lands, goods and chattels are encumbered by mortgages, and other 
ways, by means whereof the yearly revenue of the said estate is much lessened, 
and, nevertheless, the said lands, in comparison with other lands, goods and 
chattels in this province, are rated to the highest value they could possibly bear ; 
that the Brethren settled on the said lands have, at this time, four hundred and 
twenty-eight youth, from one and under, up to the age of sixteen years, besides 
one hundred and thirty-four persons employed in " attending and educating 
them." From which great number, supported at the charge of the said estate, 
very little labor can be expected ; that the Brethren likewise maintain a consider- 
able number of widows, superannuated and sick persons, the township never having 
been required to contribute anything towards the expense of the poor amongst 
them ; that the whole economy of the said Brethren is an institution of charity, 
intended for the promotion of the Gospel in America, not only among the white 
people, who want instruction, but also among the negroes and savages ; that many 
of their community are actually now employed in this and other provinces as 
ministers and schoolmasters, besides some as missionaries to the negroes, all prin- 
cipally at the charge of the said economy, and that these, and other necessary 
expenses, are borne, for the most part, by the labor of the single men amongst 
them, who receive no wages for their work, and cannot pay a poll-tax for them- 
selves ; which tax has therefore hitherto been paid out of the common stock of 
the said economy, over and above the taxes the said lands and goods are charged 
with ; that the petitioner, on behalf of the Brethren, apprehends that by the laws 
for laying the said taxes, the single men in the said economy are liable to the 
payment of the said poll-tax, and ask if they cannot, in consideration of the 
premises, be relieved by a proper act for that purpose. 

The petitioner therefore prays the House will be pleased to give the said Breth- 
ren an opportunity of laying a true state of their property before them, and of 
being heard thereon; -whereby the House may be enabled to form a better judg- 



LETTER FROM REV. MR. SPANGENBERG. 197 

ment of the grievance complained of, and afford such redress as the particular 
circumstances of the single men in the said community may appear to require. 

This petition was laid on the table, but taken up on the 30th of 
March, and, after a hearing being given to Wm. Edmonds in sup- 
port of the claim, the question was taken on it, when the petition 
was unanimously negatived. 

The following letter, from Mr. Spangenberg to Governor Denny, 

is in reply to a request made by the latter for statistics, &c. of the 

Moravian brotherhood: — 

LETTER FROM REV. MR. SPANGENBERG TO GOVERNOR DENNY. * 

Bethlehem, November 29, 1756. 

May it please your honor: These are to return to your honor our most humble 
thanks for the favor of so kind a visit of your honor at Bethlehem. As we are a 
people more used to the country than to cities, we hope your honor will excuse 
what may have been amiss. So much I can say, and this from the bottom of my 
heart, that your honor's person and place or station is sacred unto us. We all do 
wish unanimously that your honor may prosper and meet with a blessed success 
in all undertakings for the good of this province. 

Mr. Horsefield having told us that your honor wants a complete catalogue of all 
men, women, and children belonging to our economy, I have ordered one to be 
made, and have added some memorandums or observations, which I suppose will 
give you a clear idea thereof, f I recommend myself and all my brethren who live 
in this province, again in your, honor's protection. 

As for our circumstances, we are at a loss how to act with those Indians that 
come out of the woods and want to stay at Bethlehem. They are very troublesome 
guests, and we should be glad to have your honor's orders about them. Our houses 
are full already, and we must be at the expenses of building winter houses for 
them if more should come, which very likely will be the case, according to the 
account we have from them who are come. And then another difficulty arises 
viz., we hear that some of our neighbors are very uneasy at our receiving such 
murdering Indians, for so they style them. We, therefore, I fear, shall be obliged 
to set watches to keep off such of the neighbors who might begin quarrels with or 
hurt any of them. 

Now we are willing to do anything that lays in our power for the service of that 
province where we have enjoyed sweet peace for several years past. But we want 
your honor's orders for every step we take, and we must humbly beg not to be 
left without them. The more so, as we have reason to fear that somehow an Indian 
may be hurt or killed, which would certainly breed new troubles of war. We had 



* Penna. Archives. 

f For want of space the names of the inhabitants are here omitted ; their num- 
bers were as follows : — 

157 married couples . . 314 219 single men . . 219 

288 children .... 288 67 single women . 67 

14 widows with 16 children . 30 

17 widowers with 18 " . 35 953 persons. 



198 BETHLEHEM. 

least a case last week that some one fired at an Indian of Bethlehem, but a little 
way from Bethlehem, in the woods. I hope Mr. Horsefield will give your honor a 
particular account thereof, and so I will add no more. 

SPANGENBERG. 
MEMORANDUMS OF SPANGENBERG. 

1. Bethlehem contains a certain religious society intended for the furtherance 
of the Gospel as well among the heathens as Christians. 

2. Forty-eight of the above-mentioned brethren and sisters are actually employed 
for that purpose among the heathen, not only on the continent of America, as 
Pennsylvania, New England, Berbice, Surinam, &c, but also on several islands, as 
St. Thomas, St. Cruz, Johns, Jamaica, &c. 

3. Besides those mentioned just now, there are fifty-four of them employed in 
Pennsylvania, New York, New England, Jersey, and Carolina governments in 
preaching of the Gospel, keeping of schools, and the like; 

4. Sixty-two of them are merely employed in the education of our children at 
Bethlehem and Nazareth as attendents and tutors. 

5. Forty-five single men and eight couples of married people are gone to Caro- 
lina governments to make a new settlement there, and fifty more who have come 
for that end from Europe will go there soon, 

6. There are seventy-two of the above-mentioned brethren in holy orders, viz., 
four bishops, twelve ordinaries (priests), and the rest deacons, and as many acotu- 
chi, who are preparing for the ministry in the congregation, and now and then are 
made use of like deacons. 

7. About ninety of the children at Bethlehem and Nazareth have their parents 
abroad, mostly on the Gospel's account. 

8. Four hundred and twenty-five of those in the foregoing list are under age. 

9. Not all who are named in this catalogue live in Bethlehem township, but 
some in Saucon, some in Lisby, and some in another township adjoining Bethlehem 
township. 

10. There are eighty-two Indians besides those young Indian women who live 
with our young women, and besides the savages, who are going and coming, and 
staying longer or shorter with us. SPANGENBERG. 

The " economy," or the system of common property, which was 

instituted in 1742, was discontinued in 1762. The property which 

the congregation was in possession of in 1763 was the following:* — 

Bethlehem, Allen, and Lower Saucon townships . . 3700 acres. 

Nazareth tract . . . . . 5000 " 

Friedensthal tract . . . . . 260 " 

8960 
Cleared on Nazareth tract .... 1223 
do. Bethlehem tract . . . . . 532 

do. Allen and Lower Saucon tract . . 500 

2257 acres. 

Cleared about 110 acres per year, for 20 years. 

300 head of cattle ; of these about 200 were at Christian's Spring, Gnadenthal, 
Nazareth, and Friedensthal, and 100 at Bethlehem. 



* Assessment lists. 



SINGLE MEN". 199 

22 horses, principally at Christian's Spring, &c. 

20 sheep. 

1 grist-mill at Bethlehem, 1 grist-mill at Christian's Spring, 1 grist-mill at Fried- 
ensthal, 2 tavern-houses (Bethlehem and the Rose), oil and fulling mills, saw-mills, 
one store at Bethlehem, tanyard, hlacksmithery, nail smithery, stocking weaver, 
chandlery, pottery, bakery, apothecary, &c, and private dwellings, the large stone 
"old row" at Bethlehem, the Brethren's house, hall at Nazareth, other large stone 
buildings at Nazareth, Gnadenthal, Christian's Spring, &c, together with a number 
of barns, stables, &c. &c. 

Soon after the dissolution of the " economy," part of the houses, &c. were sold 
to individuals, from 1762 to 1763, as follows : — 

Abraham Andres, Silversmith, 1 house. John Okely, Scrivener, 1 house. 

Thomas Fisher, 1 " Abraham Trainer, Smith, 1 " 

Henry Krausse, Butcher, 1 " Andrew Shober, Mason, 1 " 

Gottleib Lange, Saddler, 1 " Anthony Smith, Locksmith, 1 " 

In the succeeding twenty years, from 1762 to 1782, the following 
houses were erected by the persons named : — 

AT BETHLEHEM. 
Andrew Borheck, Weaver, 1 house. George Shindler, Carpenter, 1 house. 
William Boehler, Wheelwright, 1 " Francis Thomas, Joiner, 1 " 

Ludwig Huebner, Potter, 1 " Dewalt Kornman, Skindresser, 1 " 

Daniel Kunkler, Shopkeeper, 1 " 

IN NEW NAZARETH. 
John Beitel, about 1774, &c, 

Breeches maker, 1 house 
Jacob Christ, Hatter, 1 " 

Melchior Christ, Nailer, 1 " 

Charles Culvert, Bricklayer, 1 " 
Jacob Eyerly Smith, 1 " 

Frederick Dancke, Shoemaker, 1 " 
Adam Erd, Farmer, 1 " 

August H. Franke, 1 " 

Andrew Kindig, Farmer, 1 " 
In Schceneck, George Clauss.* 1 " 

Also erected by the society 1 store and tavern and other buildings in New Naza- 
reth : the store was kept by John Youngberg, the tavern by Michael Moering. 

In 1756 there were 219 single men at the different places, viz. : 
Bethlehem, Christian's Spring, Old Nazareth, Gnadenthal, and 
Friedensthal. These numbers were greatly reduced after the disso- 
lution of the Communist System in 1762. In 1764 there were only 

* Clauss erected this house of brick about 1780. It was the first brick house 
erected in the county, and is yet standing in the village, about one mile from 
Nazareth. 



John Lesher, 


Miller, 


1 house, 


John Smith, 


Baker, 


1 


u 


Melchior Smith, 


Tinker, 


1 


u 


August Schloesser, 


Saddler, 


1 


a 


Peter Worbas, 


Carpenter, 


1 


it 


John Dealing, 


Silversmith 


,1 


u 


William Henry, 








(1780), 


Armorer, 


1 


ti 


Joseph Otto, 


Physician, 


1 


u 



200 BETHLEHEM. 

one hundred and fourteen remaining, and in 1782 the number was 
further reduced to thirty-nine. 

The first and second houses in Bethlehem have been referred to 
previously, as well as those others in the "old row" in Church 
Street, &c. In 1743, the grist and saw-mills at the Monocacy were 
built, and also the fulling and oil mills a few years subsequent to 
this. In a petition for a road from Saucon mill (erected by Jede- 
diah Irish in 1738, near the mouth of the creek of that name) 
through Bethlehem to Nazareth, the want of the road is stated to 
be for the purpose of getting to the Bethlehem corn-mill. The 
petition is dated March, 1744. 

Grain was not to be had in the neighborhood of Bethlehem at 
the time of the arrival of the Moravians. For several years they 
were obliged to get their supplies from Tulpehocken, in Berks 
County, about fifteen miles above Beading. 

The principal millwright employed in the building of the Mora- 
vian mills at Bethlehem, Christian's Spring, and Friedensthal, was 
Christian Christianson, a Moravian brother from Denmark ; he also 
was the projector of the water-works in Bethlehem, in 1750. 

It was the practice not to admit more than one person of any 
trade or occupation in Bethlehem and Nazareth, and other Moravian 
towns in the United States; and this system was pursued until 
1828, with a view to prohibit rivalry. For this reason there was 
also only one store and tavern in each place. The stores and 
taverns and several other branches or trades continued to be owned 
and carried on by the Society, until the last branch was finally sold 
a few years ago. The last was the Sun Hotel, at Bethlehem, sold 
about 1848. The agents who attended to these separate concerns 
since 1762, received a yearly compensation of from three to four 
hundred dollars, exclusive of some other privileges, such as the 
education of their children, a yearly stipend in old age, &c* 

The first tavern was the " Crown," built in 1743, near the 

* During eighty or more years there were probably hundreds of agents acting 
in this capacity, in which they had in charge large amounts of moneys ; but there 
never has been more than one or two cases of a misapplication of funds or viola- 
tion of trust, and even now there is in the hands of irresponsible persons near a 



THE "SUN" TAVERN. 201 

Lehigh bridge, on the south side of the river. This house was re- 
moved several years ago, to make place for the North Pennsylvania 
Kailroad Depot. In 1763, Ephraim Culver was both the ferryman 
and landlord. 

" In those days of loyalty to the house of Brunswick it bore the crown of George 
the Second on the panel of the south door, the main entrance to this humble host- 
elry. Here the horseman emerging from miles of lonely forest, would rein up his 
beast, and enjoy the frugal hospitalities of the house : a breakfast of tea or coffee 
at four pence ; dinner at six pence, and with a pint of beer eight pence ; supper at 
four pence, or, if hot, six pence ; lodgings at two pence ; night's hay and oats for 
his horse at twelve pence." — Beth. Souvenir. 

In 1782, Valentine Fuehrer kept the tavern, and Massey Warner 
was ferryman. In 1794, on the completion of the bridge,* the 
tavern was converted into a farm-house. "In July, 1754, the 
expediency of erecting a house of entertainment for travellers on 
this side the river was considered, and the spot on which the 'Sun' 
now stands was selected, as being without the limits of the settle- 
ment. "f This house was not finished before 1759 or 1760. The first 
license was granted by the June court of the latter year, upon the 
petition of Mathew Schropp, the warden of the congregation. In 
1768, it is found in the assessment rated at £13 4s. ($35.20), paying 
$2.65 tax.J In 1777, Just Johnson was the landlord of the "Sun." 

million of dollars belonging to the Society, without any security given. This fact 
speaks louder in favor of religion, or the truth of it, than anything else could do, 
for, "By their acts ye shall know them." 

* This bridge was incorporated in 1792. It was the first bridge over the Lehigh 
River. It remained uncovered. At the high freshet of January 8, 1841, it was 
carried off by the flood. Another was erected the same year. 

f Bethlehem Souvenir. 

% " The 20th June, 1760, the license was granted for retailing spirituous liquors at 
this house, being in the 33d year of the reign of the Sovereign Lord, George the 
Second, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, Ireland, &c, upon a 
petition by Mathew Schropp, warden of the Moravian congregation of Bethlehem." — 
Sessions Docket 

On the 20th June, 1860, a century since its erection will have passed. The 
present proprietor, James Leibert, will probably by a public demonstration of the 
event celebrate the day. There are many things incident to this ancient building 
that should not be forgotten. Under its portals have entered our beloved Wash- 
ington, John Adams, and almost every other President of the United States, not 
omitting James Buchanan, our present Chief Magistrate. Nearly all of those patriots 
who signed the Declaration of Independence have been in it. The greater number 
of the Generals of the Revolution. Dukes from France and Peers of England have 
dined or supped here. Most persons of note in the United States have graced it 

14 



202 BETHLEHEM. 

Upon making application to the court for a renewal of his license, 
it was granted upon condition that he take the oath of allegiance. 
This, however, he refused to do at that time. He, with sixty-eight 
other Moravians, took this test oath in 1786, after the battles were 
won and independence declared. This man was almost "a host" in 
himself, having had the reputation of being very strong and powerful. 
A certain iron master in Lancaster County, named Curtis Grubb, a 
great bully and lighter, attracted to Bethlehem by Brother John- 
son's reported strength, appeared one day at the "Sun," and endea- 
vored to provoke him to battle for some time without effect. At 
last the peaceable man, being outrageously abused whilst standing 
on the front porch (on the sides of which was an iron railing), took 
hold of Grubb's breech and coat-collar, and landed him on the 
pavement over the banisters, saying, in half English and half 
German language, "God bless meiner soul, I drows you over de 
gelender" (God bless my soul, I throw you over the banisters). 
Grubb, finding that he had found his match, became satisfied, and 
very pleasantly told him the object of his visit. 

In later times the " Sun" tavern became noted as the head-quar- 
ters of the famous land speculator, Nicholas Kraemer, of Allentown, 
Pa., who held his weekly courts in it during many years (from 
1800 to 1817). This man bought and sold lands at exorbitant 
prices. Sellers and buyers sometimes met here by scores and 
hundreds. His purchases were made with a promptness that was 
astonishing. If offered a tract of land, such was his knowledge of 
the country, that he at once knew its value, and bought or refused 
it without any further circumlocution or bargaining ; and thus also 
in a sale he demanded a price, from which he never deviated. 
He was entirely uneducated, and could not write his name or make 
a figure; yet he had attained such a proficiency of calculating pro- 
bable loss or gain, that a few minutes sufficed for a nice calculation. 
His profuseness was proverbial; on his court day he paid all ex- 

witli their presence. It is one of the most famous hostelries in all the land, and 
though much improved and modernized, has still enough about it to remind all 
beholders of the good old times when houses were fortresses, as much designed for 
protection from without as for comfort within. 



LETTER FEOM WILLIAM EDMONDS. 203 

penses, occasionally amounting to hundreds of dollars in one day. 
His bills at the "Sun" were thousands of dollars per year. The 
disarrangement of money matters in 1817 finally ruined him, and 
he died very poor. 

The first store was kept by William Edmonds,* who commenced 
in a small stone house (which is still standing in Market Street near 
the residence of Ernst F. Bleck, Esq.) in 1753. In the assessment 
of 1763 it is valued at £8 ($21 33). Edmonds was an English- 
man ; he came to America in 1743, with Okely and others, and in 

* The annexed letter gives an idea of the difficulties encountered in travelling 
from Bethlehem to New York, one hundred years ago. The relater was William 
Edmonds, the storekeeper in Bethlehem, as well as the representative in the 
Assembly from Northampton County. Mr. Edmonds, in addressing the clergymen 
of the Moravian Society, in great humility says : — 

" Bethlehem, February 13, 1759. 
" My Dear Brethren : Without losing more time, I will relate herein my late 
misfortune to you. In preparing for my journey to New York, I put up a three 
pound New York bill and some Jersey bills, old and new, amounting together to 
j£6 13s. 6d., which I noted down. Of these, I took the good ones and put them in 
my pocket-book to bear the expenses, but left the large York bill and some Jersey 
bills to be put in the saddle-bags. My wife put them in as they were, in the 
brown paper, but I never noted the separation down. We hurried a little too soon 
from Brunswick, lest the ice should melt, as it thawed that day, and before the 
tide was much fallen ; though I would have waited, but we wanted to reach the 
saddler at Elizabethtown that day. We were both concerned, and went twice over 
the ice to view it, before we took the horses on. But what shall I say : there were 
several lads there acting as pilots, to one of whom I gave my horse to lead, and 
went myself behind the pack-horse and Vanderbilt's, to drive them on. After a 
while, the boy stood still with the horse about twenty or thirty yards on the ice, 
where he broke through. I immediately ran to him. When he got his fore feet 
on the ice, it broke down again, so I supported his head by the bridle, that the 
stream did nor carry him under, and set the boy to loosen the bags, but at last 
the strap broke off the girth, and Brother Horsefield gave the other horses to boys, 
and, slipping the crupper, got off the saddle, and I got him to hard ice, where I got 
on. But the saddle-bags had water in them, which I did not turn out till we 
came off the ice, and then we proceeded that day, and next at Vanderbilt's I 
searched the bags in order to dry the things. My shoes were in paper, and in the 
bags I found a piece of paper cleaved to the side, which I threw on the floor with- 
out examining, and the next morning set off without examining my linen, where 
I thought the money to be, and at New York 1 my first sorrow began, which I told 

Brother Gottlieb . Now, what shall I say ? I have no cash to pay the loss 

just now, but will do it when the Lord helps me, your poor brother, 

"WILLIAM EDMONDS." 

1 The loss was probably $10 to $12. The journey from Bethlehem to New 
York consumed four days. 



204 BETHLEHEM. 

1755 was elected the representative in the Assembly for Northamp- 
ton County, and again from 1770 to 1774. It appears from some 
papers that a single brother named Oberlin wished to have this 
lucrative situation, and thereby occasioned considerable trouble to 
Edmonds in endeavoring to advance his own interest. The show 
window, once hung with powder-horns, shot-pouches, rifles and 
baskets, is yet recognized by its dimensions. The new store 
was built about 1784, Christian R. Heckenwelder being then the 
storekeeper. That building now forms part of the Eagle Hotel 
(Mr. Yohe's). For many years Owen Rice, Sr., and subsequently 
Owen Rice, Jr., was the storekeeper. About 1822 the store was 
removed to the building in which Augustus Wolle & Co. have 
their store. Mr. Wolle purchased the remaining stock on hand 
from the Society in 1838, and kept the store on his own account. 

The only apothecary store in Bethlehem was in the house at 
present owned and occupied by Mr. Rau, and used now for the 
same purpose. Dr. Matthew Otto was the first apothecary in Beth- 
lehem and in the county, and commenced his laboratory about 
1745. The medicines prepared here were chiefly sent to Phila- 
delphia, their superior qualities recommending them to the physi- 
cians in that city. The profit arising from this business was the 
greatest of all the various branches carried on in the village, and 
is said to have yielded annually from $800 to $1000 clear of ex- 
penses. In 1782, Timothy Horsefield appears as the apothecary. 
Subsequently Eberhard Freitag for many years occupied this post. 

Other trades were carried on in Bethlehem. Among the most 
lucrative were the fulling-mill, tannery, and pottery. These were 
all established soon after the commencement of the town in 1742, 
and being the first establishments of the kind in the county, some 
of their customers were from a great distance. The cloth worn in 
the country was made by the farmers as soon as they had a stock 
of sheep. No imported cloth was worn. 

The tannery used no other than country hides. Every farmer 
killed one or more head of cattle per year ; their hides were taken 
to Bethlehem, and tanned for a fixed price per pound. By a law 



TKADES AND PKOFESSIONS. 205 

then in force, tanners were under obligation to perform the tanning 
well, to dress the skins properly, cutting off a certain portion of 
flank, &c. &c. There were several inspectors of hides and leather ap- 
pointed to guard the farmer from imposition on the part of the tan- 
ners, who were subject to fines and penalties if the leather was not 
tanned perfectly. So also the farmer was liable to a fine if the hide 
was damaged when brought to the tannery. The price of shoes was 
fixed at six shillings and sixpence for men's, and five shillings for 
women's, per pair. The kind of leather used was also prescribed — 
what part of the hide to be taken from, and how much of the flank was 
to be used, and what kind of thread was to be taken for the sewing. 

Pottery, for many years carried on by Lewis Huebner, was a very 
lucrative trade in Bethlehem, and in 1782 that business was rated 
at <£130. It is said that the demand could not be supplied, more 
particularly in years when apples were plenty. Apple butter boil- 
ing by the farmers was universal, and earthen crocks to preserve it 
in were in great demand. Mr. Huebner also made the tiles used 
for stoves, as well as the common tiles for the covering of houses, 
barns, and stables. Por barns they were in use many years, and 
some of them may be seen to this clay. When tile could not be 
had, barns and stables were thatched. Pipe heads were also made 
by Mr. Huebner in large quantities. 

Many of the trades and professions followed at Bethlehem were 
the first in the county — such as stocking-weaver, baker, chandler, 
doctor, locksmith, nailsmith, fulling, store, potter, &c. In 1762 
they also had the first printing-office ; Brother Henry Miller was 
the printer, yet he continued but three years, removing his press 
to the city of Philadelphia, where he published a German news- 
paper. Several files (printed during the Eevolution) are in the 
possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. His office, 
while he resided in Bethlehem, was located in one of the three log 
houses situated on Market Street, near the graveyard. 

After the melancholy tragedy at Gnadenhutten, on the 24th 
November, 1755, of the murder of eleven of the Moravian mission- 
aries by the Indians, the Moravians at Bethlehem immediately took 



206 BETHLEHEM. 

precautionary measures for protecting themselves at their various 
stations by placing guards, and encircling their towns and houses 
with palisades, and erecting of block-houses. The palisades were 
formed by placing logs of about nine to twelve inches in diameter, 
and about fifteen feet in length, in a perpendicular position, firmly 
posted about three feet in the earth, close together (leaving several 
gateways). These defences were in general use against attacks 
from Indians, and had always been found to be sufficient, with the 
addition of a few guards. Spangenberg, in a letter to Governor 
Denny in 1757, gives the following account of the defences at the 
various Moravian stations : — 

" In these times of trouble and danger, being become the frontier, the brethren, 
for the defence of themselves and neighbors, have, under the Governor's commis- 
sion for that purpose, established military watches in all their places. 

"In Bethlehem there are five persons, viz., two married and three single, con- 
stantly kept as a night watch. 

" In Nazareth there are three night watchers, and all other persons, except seven, 
are provided with arms. 

" In Gnadenthal two are employed as night watch, and all the inhabitants have 
arms, &c. 

"In Christian's brun (Spring), one single man as night watch, and eighteen 
others are provided with arms, &c, and frequently range the woods, &c. 

" In Friedensthal mill they have all arms, and watch by turns. They also have 
thirteen Indians, whose business it is to act as a guard to those working in the 
fields, &c. &c."— Perm. Ar., vol. iii. p. 242, 1757. 

Previous to the Gnadenhutten murder the Brethren were fre- 
quently accused of being the instigators of Indian depredations and 
murders. Mr. Spangenberg relates (page 316, Risler) that the inha- 
bitants who had accused them of being in league with the Indians, 
immediately after the murder at Gnadenhutten, were convinced of 
the falsity of their accusations, and many persons came to them and 
acknowledged their error, and, with tears, begged pardon for having 
harbored such suspicions, averring that they had been misled by 
general report, as well as by letters published in the newspapers. 
One letter-writer in particular professed to have received informa- 
tion from Canada of a coalition between the French and the Mora- 
vians, and it being universally credited that the Moravians had 
received three thousand stand of arms to supply the Indians with> 
to be used in the murder of the inhabitants, they became very 



FALSE ACCUSATIONS. 207 

odious, and were looked upon with distrust by the anti-Moravian 
inhabitants of the country. Spaugenberg, when on a journey to 
New York, upon entering a tavern to get his breakfast, was attacked 
by the landlord, who, with a club in one hand, and the newspaper 
giving that account in the other, threatened to knock him down. 
Spangenberg, desirous of defending himself, denied its truth; but 
the landlord replied that it would not have been published if un- 
true, and would not be appeased. 

Although the principles of the Moravians did not permit the use 
of arms in self-defence, the foregoing account of watchers will show 
that in some cases they did not carry them out (and in fact 110 
stand of arms had been received from New York for the specific 
object of defence in 1763). Spangenberg says that the watchers' 
orders were not to shoot the Indians or others in case of an attack, 
but only to use the gun in frightening away the attacking party by 
aiming either too high or too low, at each volley, "as it is our wish 
at neither of our places to shed blood." Whether this precaution 
would have been adhered to in case of an attack is a nice question; 
yet, as it never had been tested, it remains in an uncertainty even 
now. 

After the Gnaclenhutten murder all the inhabitants north of the 
Moravians' places at Bethlehem, Nazareth, &c, fled from their 
homes, and about 600 of them sought a refuge at these various 
places, and were all taken in and provided for during the winter, 
besides all the Indians who had lived at Grnadenhutten. 

Spangenberg relates (page 322, Risler) that he "kept a true and 
just account of all the expenses, and presented the bill to govern- 
ment for payment," and adds, "a bad man came and accused the 
Brethren of making erroneous and exorbitant charges ; but the 
Governor spake a good word for the Brethren, and thus stopped his 
slanderous mouth." On a careful examination of the proceedings 
of the Assembly, we find that upon presentation of the bill some of 
the members objected to its full payment on account of exorbitant 
charges in various items, on the ground that no payments could 
be made before the accounts were examined, which was undoubt- 



208 BETHLEHEM. 

edly the boundea duty of every legislator to do. Therefore, Mr. 
Spangenberg, in using the words "a bad man" and "slanderer," 
appears to have been too harsh for the occasion. There is no inti- 
mation in the debate of the House of Assembly that questioned the 
honesty of the Moravians.* Spangenberg occasionally used flattery 
to the Governor, in order to attain his ends. 

The law passed in 1777, called the test law, rendered it obliga- 
tory upon every man over twenty-one years of age to take the oath 

* In a late work published in 1859, called "Sketches of Moravian Life and Cha- 
racter" (written by a Moravian), we find on p. 117 the following passage in reference 
to the Indian wars : " It may well be imagined that this outpouring of generosity 
exhausted the means of the Moravians." The author obtained this view from 
some other Moravian publication, in which an undue credit is taken for " gene- 
rosity." The Moravians, in fact, did no more than any other society of human 
beings would have done in receiving into their strongly fortified villages the in- 
habitants of the country, during the panic occasioned by the murders then com- 
mitting by the Indians. It is true that they expended some moneys in providing 
for them during several months. That they did do so was by order of the Governor, 
and they were paid every cent of the expense out of the provincial treasury. These 
payments, from April 16, 1756, to August 13, 1763, amounted to £1684 9s. 6fd., 
or $4491 97. This sum would have boarded near three hundred persons for three 
months at the Crown Hotel, at the established prices charged per single meal. 
Nor was this all the money that the Moravians received from the Provincial 
Assembly. Other large sums were appropriated for the use of the Indians, and 
expended by T. Horsefield, David Zeisberger, J. F. Post, and others, in their behalf. 
Spangenberg was too good an economist to spend the means of the Moravians 
upon others, when he had a proper claim upon the government, which undoubtedly 
was the case. 

About the year 1760 to 1762, the Moravians were in great pecuniary difficulties. 
The whole system was nearly failing. Some of them, in order to find the cause, 
attributed it to the Indian wars ; this being the most convenient way of account- 
ing for it. The real cause was, however, widely different. It was that the system 
of the " economy" was then found to be erroneous, and, for this reason, was 
abandoned in 1762. The truth of the matter was, that the members of the Society, 
and more particularly the single men in it, by whom the plans of the " economy" 
were being carried out, were beginning to wake up to their condition as serfs. 
Many of them began to be careless in their work, the farms in consequence did 
not yield any profits, and every other branch of business by degrees yielded less 
profits. This (the real cause of the decline of the system) the Moravian writers 
(who were the clergy) found great delicacy of admitting, as being their favorite 
measure, and by throwing the blame upon the Indian wars, bedimmed the vision 
of the members and others. It appears, however, that Brother Cunow, one of their 
clergymen in 1784, honestly admitted this fact to the Duke de Rochefoucault, and 
admitted further that the farms were carried on very slovenly at that time from 
the same causes. 



THE TEST LAW. 209 

of allegiance to the United States. About one-fourth or one-third 
of the Moravians subscribed their names and took the oath of alle- 
giance. The remainder, being sixty-nine persons, refused to take 
the oath, professing to have conscientious scruples against taking 
any oath. This matter occasioned great confusion among the 
Moravians. The clergy and older members were opposed to the 
oath. The younger were generally in favor of the Revolution, 
and therefore subscribed to the oath. Acting against the wishes of 
the clergy gave great offence, and if there had been only a few 
dissenting persons, they would have been dismissed from the con- 
gregation for violation of the rules ; but the number being so large, 
and young, they could not be dispensed with ; and even then many 
members had lost some of the fear of the power of the clergy that 
had bound them at an earlier date. The non-abjuration of the 
sixty-nine Moravians subjected them to fines, which they wished 
to be rid of, and therefore petitioned the legislature to that effect. 

The matter was given to a committee of the House, who reported 
the following : — 

" The committee appointed to set forth the reasons which induced the House not 
to grant the petition of the Moravians, was read a second time, and is as follows : 
That the House appears to your committee to be influenced by the following rea- 
sons, so far as the said petitions relate to the dispensing with the abjuration of 
allegiance to the King of Great Britain, contained in the test of allegiance required 
by law of the inhabitants of this State, beg leave to report — 

" First. Because the honorable, the Continental Congress, in their Declaration of 
Independence, have declared " that these united colonies are, and of right ought to 
be, free and independent States, and that they are absolved from all allegiance to 
the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of 
Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." 

" Secondly. Because, though the present glorious struggle for liberty and the 
natural rights of mankind against the tyrannical power of Great Britain is, at this 
time, well understood ; yet many persons amongst us, preferring a slavish depend- 
ence on the British king, from prejudice, expectations from lucrative offices, or the 
most unworthy motives, and screening themselves from the notice of government, 
by a professed neutrality, have, nevertheless, as soon as opportunity offered, de- 
clared themselves in favor of our enemies, and become active against the liberties 
of America ; it is therefore absolutely necessary, that whilst the good citizens of 
this State are freely exposing their lives and fortunes to protect what is still dearer 
to them than either of these, a proper discrimination be made, that may distinguish 
our friends from our enemies. 



210 BETHLEHEM. 

" Thirdly. Because it cannot be conceived that any person can bear true alle- 
giance to the United States of America, and at the same time refuse to renounce 
his allegiance to that power who, without any just pretence, is now carrying on an 
offensive and cruel war against us, laying waste, burning, plundering and destroy- 
ing our country by his fleets and armies, and committing every outrage that 
refinement on savage barbarity can invent. 

" Fourthly. Because the petitions on this subject make it evident that the people 
on whose behalf they are presented, do consider a general test of allegiance to the 
State to be, in some sort, consistent with a reservation of allegiance to the King of 
Great Britain, and the alteration in the test required by law, upon the present 
petitions, would be an acknowledgment, by this House, of the propriety and justice 
of such a construction of a general test. 

" Fifthly. Because the Germans in particular have the less reason to object to the 
oath of allegiance as directed by law, as they have heretofore generally renounced 
allegiance to a royal family which had forfeited its pretensions to the British 
throne, by acts not less outrageous and insulting on the rights of the subject, than 
those which the present king has been guilty of towards the people of America. 

" Sixthly. Because the House, in all their deliberations and proceedings, have 
carefully avoided giving offence to any religious society, by granting any indulg- 
ence or preference to another ; and as many of the good people of the Moravians as 
of every other society, have freely and voluntarily taken and subscribed the oath 
or affirmation of allegiance and fidelity, as directed by the laws of the state, this 
circumstance affords a just ground to infer that the objections made are really the 
objections of individuals only ; but were it otherwise, this House cannot grant 
relief to the petitioners without giving just grounds of suspicion and offence to 
those who have already taken the oath or affirmation aforesaid. 

" And thereupon it was Resolved, That this House do adopt the said report, and 
that the House is, nevertheless, ready and willing to grant to the petitioners every 
encouragement and protection in their power, which may appear consistent with 
the duty they owe to their constituents, and the welfare of the United States of 
America." — Votes of Assembly, May 25, 1778. 

The vacillating conduct of the Moravians in regard to their ad- 
herence or non-adherence to the revolutionary movements, occa- 
sioned them a great deal of trouble, and at various times the danger 
became imminent. This induced them to petition the legislature 
the second time in the latter part of 1778, wherein they plead the 
resolution attached to the report of May 25, 1778, which they con- 
strue to their advantage. The reply of the House of Assembly was, 
that that resolution did not give them any protection further than 
their own individual persons were concerned, and not against any 
other person ; neutrality by any society or person was not legalized 
— this being the desire of the Moravians — and is fully explained 
in the above report to be impossible. 

The Moravians expressed themselves, as we have just shown, 



OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 211 

unwilling to render military service, but said they were ready to 
aid the cause of humanity apart from national or sectional preju- 
dices. 

" It is our desire," they write in 1775, " to live at peace with all men. We wish 
well to the country in which we dwell. Our declining to exercise in the use of 
arms is no new thing, nor does it proceed from certain considerations, being a 
fundamental principle of the Brethren's Church — a point of conscience which our 
first settlers brought with them into this province. We never have, nor will ever, 
act inimically to this country ; we will do nothing against its peace and interest, 
nor oppose any civil rule or regulation in the province or country wherein we 
dwell. On the other hand, we will submit ourselves in all things in which we 
can keep a good conscience, and not withdraw our shoulders from the common 
burden." 

The Bethlehem Souvenir says: "This declaration was made in 
good faith, and its promises honorably fulfilled. Nevertheless, it 
was insufficient to secure the Brethren from the persecution of a 
neighborhood who had long envied them the prosperity of their 
settlement, and gladly took advantage of the condition of affairs 
to excite against them the animosity of the country at large." 
That the declaration was fulfilled we will admit, but the last asser- 
tion is an unjust charge against the inhabitants of Northampton 
County, and which we consider our duty to refute. The true 
cause of hostility (as is admitted by the better informed Moravians 
of the present day) was their unwillingness to take and subscribe 
to the oath of allegiance. The object of this oath has already 
been given, and the report of the committee of the House will 
show what was expected from all who were willing to aid in secur- 
ing the independence of the country. It is natural to suppose that 
the surrounding people, who had nearly all taken this oath, would 
entertain the same opinion of those who refused to take the oath 
as did the committee of the House of Assembly, the substance of 
which was that no person could bear a true allegiance to the United 
States, and at the same time refuse to renounce his allegiance to 
Great Britain. It is true that the situation of the Moravians during 
the war was one of peculiar difficulty. As a principle, they pro- 
fessed to be opposed to taking an oath at any time and under 
any circumstances : the necessity of the case might have induced 
them to violate this ; yet if they had done so it would have placed 



212 BETHLEHEM. 

them in a position of hostility to the British government, and 
would consequently have been the means of jeopardizing their 
missionary stations in the British West India Islands, or even 
their congregations in England itself. But, notwithstanding their 
opposition to taking an oath, we find that in 1786, after the decla- 
ration of independence, when there was no more danger from 
British supremacy, sixty-nine Moravians — included among whom 
was Bishop Bttwein — did sign their names to an oath of allegiance 
commencing with the words, " We do swear." An act of the 
Legislature passed March 4, 1786, gave such persons who had not 
taken the test oath of abjuration in 1777, an opportunity to regain 
their citizenship by taking a prescribed oath ; so that rather than 
remain deprived of all the privileges of citizens they signed the 
oath, which reinstated them in the citizen's right to vote at elec- 
tions, hold real estate, &c. &c* But to return: nothwithstanding 
their unwillingness to take the oath of allegiance, we find they 
rendered considerable service to the government at different times 
by their many acts of kindness to the sick and wounded. A 
diary was kept at Bethlehem during the Kevolutionary War; but 
as our space will not permit the copying of the whole of it, the 
following extracts, which we take from the Bethlehem Souvenir, will 
show, in a measure, the many sacrifices the Society made for the 
comfort of the army : — 

" The years 1776 and '77 were peculiarly times of distress and danger for the 
settlement. " At the close of January and commencement of February," says the 
diary of 1776, " large numbers of the prisoners, who had been detained in Canada 
since the disastrous invasion of last autumn, passed through Bethlehem with 
their families and baggage, some on foot and others on sleighs. A party would 
occasionally halt here to spend the night, and we improved such occasions in pro- 
viding the destitute with clothing, especially the females and children. 

" After the losses at Brooklyn Heights, Fort Washington, and Fort Lee, Washing- 
ton crossed the North River, and continued his retreat to Newark, New Brunswick, 
Princeton, and Trenton, and thence crossed to the Pennsylvania side of the river 
Delaware, closely pursued by Cornwallis. General Lee's division of three thousand 
men, under command of General Sullivan, reached Bethlehem on the 17th Decem- 



* We are forced from this test act to infer that their unwillingness to take the 
oath did not proceed from conscientious scruples, but was assumed as a matter of 
expediency. 



EXTRACTS FROM DIARY. 213 

ber, and encamped for the night on the south bank of the Lehigh. At this crisis 
in the affairs of the Continental army, the removal of the hospital, in which two 
thousand sick and wounded were at this time lying, from Morristown to some 
point in the interior, was a measure which allowed of no delay, and on the 3d of 
December the following announcement reached Bethlehem by express : — 

" ' According to his excellency General Washington's order, the General Hospital 
of the army is removed to Bethlehem, and you will do the greatest act of humanity 
by immediately providing proper buildings for its reception.' " 

" In the evening of the same day Drs. Warren and Shippen arrived, when arrange- 
ments were made for the reception of two hundred and fifty of the hospital sick 
in the "Brethren's House," The next morning they entered the settlement, a 
pitiable spectacle to behold, totally destitute, gaunt, and famishing ; " and," says 
the diary, " had Bethlehem not supplied them with food, many of them would 
have perished, for three days elapsed before the arrival of the supplies intended 
for their use." 

" Before the close of the winter, one hundred and ten of their number were re- 
leased from their suffering and distress by the hand of death. 

" July 15th. Our team from Hope, in the Jerseys, arrived after an uncalled-for 
detention. Passing through Easton, heavily laden with flour, it was suspected of 
secretly carrying munitions of war, and accordingly the ' Associators' despatched 
some of their number in pursuit. The wagon was overtaken a short distance 
from town and summarily searched." 

" Feb. Qth — 1th. Three hundred men from Ticonderoga halted here for eight days, 
and were quartered in the workshops and private residences mainly, as the Breth- 
ren's House could accommodate only ninety of the number. 

" Feb. 24th. Sixteen wagons with Continental stores, consisting of ammunition, 
wine, and rum, arrived from Morristown, with orders from the Generals to be stored 
here. 

"May Qth. Colonel McLean with a troop of light horse reached here from Phila- 
delphia, expecting to find Lady Washington, whom he was to escort hence. The 
lady and her retinue had, however, struck off on the Durham road, and thus 
missed Bethlehem. 

" Sept. 2d. Early this morning an express from Reading brought the unwelcome 
intelligence that two hundred and sixty English prisoners, under a large escort, 
would be conveyed here for safe keeping. The large family house was chosen for 
their accommodation. Against this we protested. As our objections were ineffec- 
tual, it was resolved to lay our grievances in writing before the council of war. 
This was done at once, and the following reply received on the 6th of the month : — 

" ' War Office, Sept. 5th, 1777. 
" ' Gentlemen : The Board have received a representation from you in behalf of 
the inhabitants of Bethlehem. They are extremely sorry that any inconvenience 
should arise from the execution of an order of theirs relative to the prisoners to 
be stationed at Bethlehem. But the necessity of the case requires the measure, 
and the good people of your town must endeavor to reconcile the matter as well as 
they can. If the guards, or the persons employed, deport themselves improperly, 
any grievance the inhabitants complain of on this account will be immediately 
redressed ; and as soon as circumstances will admit, the prisoners will be removed. 

"' RICHARD PETERS, 

Secretary.'' " 



214 BETHLEHEM. 

" Sept. 1th. This afternoon the prisoners arrived by way of Allentown, tinder 
guard of one hundred Americans, and were taken to their quarters. Two hun- 
dred of the number were Highlanders. 

" Sept. 16th. **#*■*., **A long train of heavily laden wagons from French 
Creek arrived, bringing intelligence of Washington's order to have the military 
stores removed thence to this place. We expressed our dissatisfaction at the pro- 
ceeding, but it was useless. The wagons were unloaded near the tile-kilns,* and 
put in guard of forty men. 

" Sept. l&th. Eight tories from the Jerseys, under escort, were brought to-day for 
safe keeping among the prisoners quartered in the family house. ***** A 
report was current that the army is on its way hither. In the evening of the 19th 
of the month, we received the following from the Director-General of the Conti- 
nental Hospital : — 

" ' Gentlemen : It gives me great pain to be obliged, by order of Congress, to send 

my sick and wounded soldiers to your peaceable village ; but so it is. We will 

want room for two thousand at Bethlehem, Easton, and Northampton,! and you 

may expect them on Saturday or Sunday. These are dreadful times — consequences 

of unnatural wars. I am truly concerned for your society, and wish this stroke 

could be averted, but 'tis impossible. 

" ' WILLIAM SHIPPEN.' " 

" Seeing ourselves under the necessity of relieving the distress of the country, 
on the next day we gave orders for the evacuation of the Brethren's House by its 
residents, and its clearance from basement to attic. ****** This second 
occupation of the Brethren's house continued from Sept. 20, 1777, to June, 1778. 

" Sept. 23d. The whole of the heavy baggage of the army, in a continuous train 
of seven hundred wagons, directly from the camp, arrived under escort of two 
hundred men, commanded by Col. Polk, of North Carolina. They encamped on 
the south side of the Lehigh, and in one night destroyed all our buckwheat and 
the fences around the fields. % 



* The locality of this kiln is yet pointed out on the Monocacy, half a mile north- 
west of Bethlehem. It was erected at an early day, and was used for burning 
roofing-tiles for the Moravian settlements. 

f Now called Allentown. 

% The Moravians allege to have lost £1500 during the last three months of 1777 
by the American army. There was no need of loss by individuals during the 
Revolution, for in 1784 a proclamation by the commissioners of each county was 
issued, calling upon the inhabitants to deliver their bills of losses sustained during 
the war. In Northampton County seventy-five persons availed themselves of this 
proclamation, the bills, amounting to £6996, were honorably discharged by the 
government of Pennsylvania. If the Moravians did not avail themselves of this 
mode of reimbursement, they ought not to complain of having " their new wheat 
fed to horses." {Beth. Sou., p. 169.) So, also, the fines they were obliged to pay 
are adverted to. If the Moravians chose to violate the laws, or try to circumvent 
them, they had no reason to complain of the consequences. That they were treated 
with great leniency during the exciting time of the Revolution, there can be no 
question of, and it is one (if not the only one) of the few instances during that 
war in which the transgressors escaped unscathed ; therefore it ill becomes Mora- 
vian historians of the present day to cast any odium upon " the neighbors," or 
government. 



EMPLOYMENTS OF THE SISTERS. 215 

" Oct. 22c?. A number of wagons with sick arrived. As no accommodations could 
he provided, they were forwarded to Easton. Upwards of four hundred are at 
present in the Brethren's House, and fifty in tents below. 

"During the month of December, 1777, large numbers of sick were brought to 
Bethlehem from the Jerseys,' generally in open wagons, often amid snow and beat- 
ing rain — pitiable objects, with clothing insufficient to shelter their fevered limbs 
from the piercing cold. The hospital list daily increased, and between Christmas 
and New Year upwards of seven hundred invalids were crowded into the Breth- 
ren's House alone. Numbers died, especially in the upper stories, where filth and 
pollution were intolerable. Here was a field for Christian benevolence which the 
Brethren cheerfully entered." 

In consequence of the removal of the hospital to Bethlehem, the 
place was visited by many persons of distinction ; among whom 
were Gen. George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, Count Pu- 
laski, Baron de Kalb, John Adams, Gen. Armstrong, Gen. Gates, 
Gen. Mifflin, Gen. Schuyler, John Hancock, Henry Laurens, and 
Benj. Franklin. 

It was during this time that Count Pulaski was complimented 
for his gallantry by the" presentation of a banner, embroidered by 
the single sisters, as a token of their gratitude for the protection 
he had afforded them, surrounded as they were by a rough and 
uncouth soldiery. The banner was made of crimson silk. On 
one side the capitals U. S. are encircled by the motto "unitas virtus 
fortior ;" on the other the all-seeing eye of God, in the midst of 
the thirteen stars of the Union, is surrounded by the words "non 
alius regit." These designs were embroidered with yellow silk, the 
letters shaded with green. A deep green bullion fringe ornaments 
the edges. The size of the banner was twenty inches square. It 
was attached to a lance when borne in the field. The banner was 
received by Pulaski with grateful acknowledgments, and borne by 
his regiment through the campaign, until he fell in the attack on 
Savannah, in the autumn of 1779. It is now in the possession of 
the Maryland Historical Society, at Baltimore. Longfellow has 
immortalized the incident in a beautiful poem. 

Many of the sisters were expert with the needle in the manufac- 
ture of curious embroidery, and not only was ornamental work 
done by them, but they also followed more useful employments, 
such as spinning, knitting, and weaving. Washington was here in 



216 BETHLEHEM. 

1778, and was introduced into the various rooms by Bishop Ett- 
wein, where, finding in the room the mother of the writer, who, 
among others, was at work, he remarked, "Ladies, I am pleased 
to find you all busy at work." Ettwein replied to him, "Yes, it 
stands written in the Bible, those that do not work shall not eat." 
The General purchased several pair of knit hose for himself, and 
the sisters presented him with a dress pattern of " blue stripe," for 
his lady, which he said she should wear. On his coming into the 
village, accompanied by his adjutant, he was received with music 
on the trombones from the Belvidere on the Brethren's House. 
One of the Brethren, many years afterwards, who had seen Wash- 
ington and his aid in their military dress, walking through the 
streets of Bethlehem with the Bishop between them, in his plain 
dress, the former being very tall and the latter very small in sta- 
ture, said that the oddity of this appearance struck him forcibly. 
In the spring of 1778, "Washington again passed through Bethlehem 
on his way to Easton ; but did not stay longer than was necessary 
to get some dinner for himself and aid, and feed for the horses. 

From the diary kept at Bethlehem during the revolutionary 
war, and from which we have heretofore quoted, we learn that 
Lafayette came to that place on the 20th of September, just after 
the battle of Brandywine. Mr. Charles Beckel, of Bethlehem, 
says: "This young French general lodged at our house. He had 
been wounded in the foot at the battle of Brandywine. I had an 
aunt who was then about seventeen or eighteen years of age. 
She was the Marquis's nurse. Being very handsome and lively, 
my grandfather became very uneasy about her forming an intimacy 
with the volatile and witty Frenchman. In 1823, when Lafayette 
visited the United States, though old and an invalid, she expressed 
a great desire to see him ; but her wish was not gratified." 

The following descriptions of Bethlehem and its institutions will 
be read with interest, not alone from their being "relics of the 
olden time," but also from the fact of their having been written by 
distinguished travellers, who obtained their information concerning 
the customs of the Moravians at that time from some of their 
clergymen : — 



LIEUT. ANBURY'S ACCOUNT OF BETHLEHEM. 217 

The annexed descriptions of Bethlehem, by three distinguished 
travellers who had visited it, will serve to show the interest and 
curiosity with which the Moravians were looked upon even by 
Europeans at those early dates. 

Lieut. Anbury's Travels in America, 1778. 

" The tavern* at Bethlehem is upon a good plan, and well calculated for the con- 
venience and accommodation of travellers. The building, which is very exten- 
sive, is divided throughout by a passage near thirty feet wide. On each side are 
convenient apartments, consisting of a sitting room, which leads into two separate 
bed-chambers. All these rooms are well lighted, and have fireplaces in them. On 
your arrival you are conducted to one of these apartments, and delivered the key, 
so that you are as free from intrusion as if in your own house. Every other 
accommodation was equal to the first tavern in London. 

" You may be sure our surprise was not little, after having been accustomed to 
such miserable fare, at other ordinaries, to see a larder displayed with plenty of 
fish, fowl, and game. Another matter of surprise, as we have not met with the 
like in all our travels, was excellent wines of all sorts, which to us was a most 
delicious treat, not having tasted any since we left Boston, for, notwithstanding 
the splendor and elegance of several families we visited in Virginia, wine was a 
stranger to their tables. For every apartment a servant is appointed to attend, 
whose whole duty is to wait on the company belonging to it, and who is as much 
your servant during your stay as one of your own domestics. The accommodation 
for horses is equal. In short, in laying the plan of this tavern, they seem solely 
to have studied the ease, comfort, and convenience of travellers, and it is built upon, 
such an extensive scale, that it can with ease accommodate one hundred and sixty 
persons. 

" General Phillips was so much delighted with it that, after he quitted Virginia, 
not being permitted to go to New York, on account of some military operations 
being on foot in the Jerseys, he returned back some forty miles merely on account of 
the accommodations. The landlord accompanied us to the intendant, or the head 
of the society (Bishop Ettwein), who, with great politeness, showed us everything 
worthy of observation in the settlements. The first place he conducted us to was 
the house of the single women, which is a spacious stone building, divided, similar 
to the tavern, into large chambers, which are, after the German mode, heated with 
stoves. f In these the young women pursue various domestic employments, and 
some are employed in fancy and ornamental work : in all these apartments are 
various musical instruments. The superintendent of these young women con- 
ducted us to the apartments where they slept, which is a large vaulted room, the 
whole dimensions of the building, in which were beds for every woman. The 
women dine in a large hall in which is a handsome organ, and the walls are adorned 
with Scriptural pieces, painted by some of the women who formerly belonged to 
the society. This hall answers the purpose of a refectory and chapel, but on Sun- 
days they attend worship in the great church, which is a neat and simple building. 



* Present Sun Hotel. 

f These stoves were formed of tiles about five feet high. Some of them were 
totally of these tiles, others part of tile and part cast-iron. The warm air obtained 
by a clay is more agreeable than that by an iron stove. — Ogden, p. 30. 

15 



218 BETHLEHEM. 

The house cf the single men is upon the same principle as that of the women, 
upon the roof of which is a belvedere, from which there is not only a delightful 
prospect, but a distinct view of the whole settlement. We observed that the 
building was much defaced, which the superintendent informed us was occasioned 
by the Americans taking it from the young men, and converting it into a hospital 
for the sick and wounded after the battle at Germantown, and, added he, 'it is 
incredible what numbers perished for want of proper care and attention, and the 
hospital being ill supplied with drugs.' Pointing to an adjoining field, he said, 
'there lie buried near seven or eight hundred of the American soldiers, who died 
during the winter.' All manner of trades and manufactures are carried on dis- 
tinctly, one of each branch : at the various occupations the young men are employed. 
Every one contributes his labor, and the profits arising from each goes to the gene- 
ral stock. These young men receive no wages, but are supplied with the neces- 
saries from the various branches of trade. They have no cares about the usual 
concerns of life, and their whole time is spent in prayer and labor, their only 
relaxation being concerts, which they perform every evening. These people are ex- 
tremely shrewd and sensible : in a manner foreseeing the ill consequences attending 
a civil war, they had, before its commencement, laid in great quantities of European 
goods, which they sent to the various farms interspersed around the settlement. 
The Moravians are not only very assiduous, but ingenious too. They have adopted 
a sort of marriage, but, from the manner of its celebration, you cannot suppose 
those mutual tender endearments and happiness to subsist between the parties as 
with us. A young man feels an inclination to marry, which does not proceed from 
any object he is enamored with, for he never sees his wife but once before the cere- 
mony takes place, it being contrary to the principles of their religion to suppose 
it is from the passions of nature, but merely to uphold the society, that it may not 
sink into oblivion. The young man communicates his inclination to the priest, 
who, consulting with the superintendent, she produces her who is the next one in 
rotation for marriage. The priest presents her to the young man, and leaves them 
alone for an hour, when he returns. If they both consent they are married the 
next day. If there is any objection, their cases are very pitiable, but especially 
the woman, as she is put at the bottom of the list, which amounts to near sixty or 
seventy, nor does the poor girl stand the least chance of a husband till she arrives 
again at the top, unless the man feels a second inclination for marriage, for he 
never can obtain any other woman than the one he had the first interview with. 
This, I am induced to think, is the reason of there being so many old women 
among the single ones. Thus you see, my friend, that marriage and its inexpres- 
sible enjoyments is not the result of the passions, but a piece of mere mechanism, 
set to work and stopped only by necessity. When two parties meet and are united 
in marriage, a house is provided for them by the society, of which there are great 
numbers around the town, very neat habitations with pleasant gardens. Their 
children, of either sex, at the age of six years, are taken from them and placed in the 
two seminaries, consequently they can have little affection for them. When either 
of the parties die, if the woman, the man returns to the apartments of the single 
men ; if the man, the woman retires to the house built for that purpose. The 
religion of the Moravians resembles more that of the Lutherans than Calvinists; 
in one point it greatly differs from both, by admitting of music and pictures in 
their places of devotion. Prayer constitutes almost a third of their employment, 
for, exclusive of their daily public devotions, they attend service in their own 
chapels, morning, noon, and evening. Setting aside their ridiculous manner of 



CHASTELEUX'S ACCOUNT OF BETHLEHEM. 219 

entering into the marriage state, and which to them is of little moment, I could 
not but reflect, if content is in this life they enjoy it. Far from the bustle of a 
troublesome world, living in perfect liberty, each one pursuing his own ideas and 
inclinations, and residing in the most delightful situation imaginable, which is so 
healthy that they are subject to few, if any, diseases. As want is a stranger, so is 
vice. Their total ignorance of the refined elegancies precluding any anxiety, or 
regret that they possess not wealth to enjoy them. Nevertheless, they possess 
what many are strangers to, who are surrounded with what are termed blessings, 
those true and essential ones, health and tranquillity of mind." 

Chasteleux's Teavels in America, vol. ii. p. 314, 1782. 

" We had no difficulty in finding the tavern, for it is precisely at the entrance 
of the town. This tavern was built at the expense of the Society of Moravian 
Brethren, to whom it formerly served as a magazine, and is very handsome and 
spacious. The person that keeps it is only the cashier, and is obliged to render 
an account to the administrators. As we had already dined, we only drank tea, 
but ordered our breakfast at ten o'clock the next morning. The landlord telling 
me there was a grouse or heath bird in the house, I made him bring it, for I had 
long had a great desire to see one. I soon observed that it was neither the poule 
de Pharoon nor the heath-cock ; it was about the size of a pheasant, but had a 
short tail and the head of Lasson, which it resembles also in the form of its body, 
and its feet were covered with down. This bird is remarkable for too large 
transverse feathers below its head. The plumage of his belly is a mixture of black 
and white ; the color of his wings of a red gray, like our gray partridge. When 
the grouse is roasted, his flesh is black, like that of the heath-cock, but it is more 
delicate, and of a higher flavor. I could not derive much information from my 
landlord on the origin, opinions, and manners of the Society, but he informed me 
that I should next day see the ministers and administrators, who would gratify 
my curiosity. The 11th, at half past eight, I walked out with a Moravian given 
me by the landlord, but who was likewise ill informed, and only served me as a 
guide. He was a seaman* who imagined he had some talent for drawing, and 
amuses himself with teaching the young people, having quitted the sea since the 
war, where, however, he had no scruple in sending his son.f He subsists on a 
small estate at Reading, but lives at Bethlehem, where he and his wife board in a 



* Capt. Garrison. 

f The translator of Chasteleux's Travels remarks : " It is remarkable enough 
that the son of this Moravian, whose name is Garrison, should have served on board 
a vessel with me, and was, without exception, the most worthless, profligate fellow 
we had in a mixed crew of English, Scotch, Irish, and Americans, to all of whom 
his education had been infinitely superior. Neither bolts nor bars could prevent, 
nor any chastisement correct, his pilfering disposition. In a long winter's voyage 
of thirteen weeks, with only provisions and water for five, this fellow was the bane 
and pest of officers, passengers, and seamen. Whilst every other man in the ship, 
even the most licentious in prosperity, submitted to regulations laid down to alle- 
viate our dreadful sufferings, and preserve our lives, this hardened, unreflecting 
wretch, ignorant of every feeling of sympathy and humane nature, seemed to take 
a savage delight in diffusing misery around him, and adding to the distresses of 
his fellow sufferers. He had been well educated in the humane principles of the 
Moravians, but he truly verified the just adage of, corruptio optimi passiona." 



220 BETHLEHEM. 

private family. We went first to visit the house for single women ; this edifice is 
spacious and built with stone. It is divided into several large chambers, all 
heated with stoves, in which the girls work ; some do coarse work, such as spinning 
cotton, hemp, and wool ; others are engaged in works of taste and luxury, such as 
embroidery, either in thread or silk, and they excel particularly in working ruffles, 
little pocket-books, pincushions, &c, like our French nuns. 

" The superintendent of the house came to receive us. She is a woman of family, 
born in Saxony ; her name is Madame de Gersdorff, but she does not presume upon 
her birth, and appeared sixrprised at my giving her my hand as often as we went 
up and down stairs. She conducted us to the first floor, where she made us enter 
a large, vaulted room, kept perfectly clean, where all the women sleep, each haviDg 
a bed, in part of which are plenty of feathers. There is never any fire in this 
room ; and, though it be very high and airy, a ventilator is fixed in the roof like 
those in our play-houses. The kitchen is not large, but it is clean and well 
arranged. In it there are immense earthen pots upon furnaces, like in our hos- 
pitals. 

" The inhabitants of the house dine in the refectory, and are served every day 
with meat and vegetables. They have to pay three shillings and sixpence cur- 
rency per week (about fourpence per day) to the common stock ; but they have no 
supper, and I believe the house furnishes only bread for breakfast. This expense, 
and what they pay for fire and candles deducted, they enjoy the produce of their 
labor, which is more than sufficient to maintain them. This house also has a 
chapel, which serves only for evening prayer, for they go to their church on Sun- 
days. There is an organ in this chapel, and I saw several instruments suspended 
on nails. We quitted Madame de Gersdorff, well pleased with our reception, and 
went to the church, which is simple, and differs little from that we had seen at 
Moravian Mill (at Hope, in New Jersey). Here, also, are several religious pictures. 

" From hence we went to the house of the single men. I entered the apartment 
of the intendant (Jacob Van Vleck), whom I found copying music. He had in his 
room an indifferent piano forte, made in Germany. I talked with him on music, 
and found he was not only a performer but a composer ; so that, on accompanying 
us to the chapel, and being asked to touch the organ, he played some voluntaries, 
in which he introduced a great deal of harmony and progressions of base. This 
man, whose name I have forgotten, is a native of New York, but resided seven 
years in Germany, from whence he had lately returned. I found him better in- 
formed than those I had yet met with, yet it was with some difficulty I got from 
him the following details : — 

" The Moravian Brethren, in whatsoever quarter of the world they live, are under 
the discipline of their metropolitans, who reside in Germany, from whence com- 
missaries are sent to regulate the different establishments. The same metropoli- 
tans advance the sums necessary for forming them, which are paid in proportion 
as these colonies prosper ; thus, the revenues of the mills I have spoken of, as 
well as the farms and manufactures, are employed in the first instance to pay the 
expenses of the community, and afterward to reimburse the sums advanced in 
Europe. Bethlehem, for example, possesses a territorial property purchased by 
the Moravians in Europe, which consists of fifteen hundred acres of land, forming 
a vast farm, which is managed by a steward, who accounts for it to the community. 
If an individual wants a lot of land, he must purchase it of the public, but under 
this restriction, that in case of defection from the sect or congregation from the 
place, he shall restore it to the community, who will reimburse him the original 
payment. 



KOCHEFOUCAULT'S DESCRIPTION OF BETHLEHEM. 221 

" Their police or discipline is of the monastic kind, since they recommend celi- 
bacy, but without enjoining it, and keep the women separate from the men. There 
is a particular house for the widows, which I did not visit. The two sexes being 
thus habitually separated, none of those familiar connections exist between them 
which lead to marriage. Nay, it is even contrary to the spirit of the sect to marry 
from inclination. If a young man find himself sufficiently at his ease to keep 
house for himself and maintain a wife and children, he presents himself to the 
commissary and asks for a girl, who (after consulting with the superintendent of 
the women) proposes one to him, which he may refuse or accept, but it is contrary 
to the custom to choose a wife for himself. Accordingly, the Moravian colonies 
have not multiplied in any proportion to the other American colonies. That at 
Bethlehem is composed of about six hundred persons, more than one-half of whom 
live in a state of celibacy, nor does it appear that it has increased for several years. 
Every precaution is taken to provide for the subsistence of the brethren, and in 
the houses destined for the unmarried of both sexes, there are masters to teach them 
different trades. 

" The house of the single men, which I saw in detail, does not differ from that of 
the women. I shall only take notice of a very convenient method they have of 
awakening those who wish to be called up at a given hour ; all their beds are 
numbered, and near the door is a slate, on which all the numbers are registered. 
A man who wishes to be awakened early, at five o'clock in the morning, for ex- 
ample, has only to write the figure five under his number. The watchman who 
attends the chamber observes this in going his rounds, and at the time appointed, 
the next morning, goes straight to the number of the bed, without troubling him- 
self about the name of the sleeper. 

" Before I left the house I mounted on the roof, where there is a belvedere, from 
whence you see the little town of Bethlehem and the neighborhood. It is composed 
of seventy or eighty houses, and there are some others belonging to the colony at 
the distance of a mile or two ; they are all handsome, and built with stone. Every 
house has a garden, cultivated with care. In returning home, I was curious to see 
the farm, which is kept in good order, but the inside was neither so clean nor so 
well kept as in the English farm-houses, because the Moravians are more barbarous 
than their language. At length, at half past ten, I returned to the inn, where I 
was expected by my moor-fowl, two wood-hens, and many other good things ; so 
that I was still better satisfied with my breakfast than with my walk. At twelve, 
we set out to travel twenty miles further, to Kalf's tavern, a German house, very 
poor and filthy. We had passed the eastern branch of the Delaware, a mile from 
Bethlehem. Dec. 24, 1782." 

Duke de Rochefoucault's Travels in America, vol. ii. p. 397, 1785. 

" Bethlehem is inhabited by the Moravian Brethren. It was the first and most 
considerable of their settlements in America, and has thence acquired much cele- 
brity. I have read in books of travels so many different recitals respecting the 
government of their society, their community of goods, their children being even 
taken away from the authority and superintendence of their parents, as belonging 
to the society at large, and respecting several other points of. their government, 
that I was desirous to judge, myself, of the truth of these assertions, and I have 
found at Bethlehem fresh reason not to credit, without proof, the recitals of travel- 
lers. This indisputable truth is, however, rather delicate to be averred by one 
who is writing travels. I shall not go back to the origin of the Moravians, which 



222 BETHLEHEM. 

their historians fix at the year 1424, to their persecution in Europe, to the almost 
dissolution of their society at the commencement of the seventeenth century, nor 
to their renewal in 1722, under the auspices of Count Zinzendorff. I shall say 
nothing of their doctrines — all these facts are unconnected with their temporal 
government at Bethlehem, which is the only point I wished to know, and which, I 
think, is at this time interesting. In 1740, the Count Zinzendorff purchased from 
Mr. Allen, who held of William Penn, the district now called Bethlehem, with the 
view of there forming an establishment for the society of the Moravians. Although 
some trees were cut down in 1741, it was not till 1742 that the settlement was 
begun. One hundred and forty Moravian Brethren and Sisters arrived from Ger- 
many and settled there. These families were poor, had no other dependence but 
their labor, and everything was to be done to form a settlement in this desert. 
They lived there in one general community, contrary to the rules and usages of 
their society, but only from the necessity of circumstances, which would have ren- 
dered the general progress of their society more slow, and the situation of the 
individual families more inconvenient, if their labors and productions had been 
divided. This deviation from the constitution of the unity (for thus they call the 
whole society) was prescribed by the synod, which makes and alters the laws of 
the Moravian people. Thus, under the order of the chiefs of the congregation 
established at Bethlehem, they cleared the woods, made roads, and cultivated the 
lands ; the women spun, wove, made their clothes, and prepared their victuals. 
One single will animated the whole, and the product of each individual labor 
served indiscriminately to the support of the whole brother and sisterhood. The 
fathers and mothers being constantly employed in labor, could not, without incon- 
venience to the community, give their attention to the children. The society, 
therefore, set apart some of the sisters to take care of the whole. The authority, 
however, and the superintendence of the parents, was neither taken away nor 
diminished. At that time, even, notwithstanding their community of goods, the 
Brethren that received any money from their families or friends, had the predis- 
posal of it. If any of them vested their property in the common stock, it was 
voluntarily, and the effect of a zeal and disinterested act, of which there were few 
examples. The Brethren, possessed of any private property, had frequently their 
children with them ; they clothed them better, and the care which they took of 
their infancy — a charge considered a relief to society — was a proof that at Bethle- 
hem the children were not, as has been alleged, the property of the community, 
and that it was no part of the constitution to make members renounce all pri- 
vate property. In proportion as the settlement advanced their labor became less 
urgent, and the virtues of man have nearly everywhere the same character. The 
active brethren killed themselves with work, while the idle took little trouble. 
Those who reflected, discovered that whatever fatigue they endured, their situation 
was nowise ameliorated, and that industry, the indisputable property of every man, 
afforded them not a single advantage. Reflection, then, had the same effect on the 
industrious, as the natural disposition had on the idle ; the ardor for labor no longer 
continued, and the society did not prosper, and the most of its members were dis- 
contented. These joint considerations induced them, in 1762, to change the system 
of the society. The Society of Bethlehem was now established on the rules of the 
societies in Europe, and, agreeably to the true system, it has been regulated 
since that epoch, as well as all the other Moravian congregations established else- 
where in America. By the present ordinances, the communism of property is done 
away in favor of the individuals, it only continues as to the government of the 
Society, and exists partially. 



ROCHEFOUCAULT'S ACCOUNT OF THE MORAVIANS. 223 

"The territorial property, as well as the profits of the tavern, the store, the farms, 
the saw-mill, the oil-mill, corn-mill, and fulling-mill, the tannery and the dyeing 
manufactory, belong to the Society, which from these funds is enabled to provide 
for the poor, for the payment of debts, and of the public taxes. In all other 
respects, every brother enjoys the absolute property of whatever he can earn by 
his labor, be it what it may, and of the gifts he may receive. The government of 
the Society is vested in the bishop, the minister, and the intendant, and the in- 
spectors, male and female, of the different divisions of the Society, which are five 
in number : the young men unmarried, the unmarried sisters, the widows, the 
married brethren and sisters, and the schools. The intendant has the exclusive 
administration of the property of the Society, but he must advise with a committee 
composed of from eight to ten members chosen by the Brethren at large : in the 
name of the intendant they carry on all their transactions, grant leases of houses 
and lands, securities for borrowed money, discharges, &c. All the houses, how- 
ever, erected in the town of Bethlehem, and the four thousand acres belonging to 
it, are not the property of the Society, nor even the greater part of them ; they 
belong to brethren who have built upon land for which they pay rent to the 
Society. The amount of this rent is twopence the foot in front by twenty feet in 
depth. The house built by the brother is his absolute property ; he can leave it 
to his wife or children, in the same way as he can his other effects, or he can sell 
it — only he cannot convey it but to a brother who has obtained permission from 
the directory to buy it, with the burthen of the rent attached to it, and which 
perpetually remains. The directors having the government of the Society must 
admit those only into their territory, who they think will not disturb the Society. 
In the contract of lease made by the intendant with the advice of the committee, 
to those intending to build a house, or to those who purchase a house, it is always 
stipulated that if the proprietors shall be desirous of quitting it, and shall not find 
a purchaser who may be agreeable to the Society, the Society is to purchase it at 
a price declared by law, which also fixes the terms of payment. Garden ground 
or land in the country, is let at six shillings the acre. 

Besides the government farm, appropriated to the benefit of the Society, there 
are six or seven smaller farms belonging to it. These are let to tenants, who pay 
a third part of their produce, and who also pay six shillings rent for their garden 
grounds. These tenants are all, at present, Moravians. Sometimes the farms were 
let to other persons, only the Society must be satisfied as to their character and 
behavior. The town of Bethlehem is inhabited by between five and six hundred 
inhabitants, all of the brother and sisterhood." 

One hundred and eighteen years have passed since the first tree 
on the site of Bethlehem was felled by David Nitschman, for the 
building of the first house. Upwards of three-fourths of a century 
has elapsed since the scenes last related have been enacted. Those 
who during the trying times of the revolutionary war had shared 
in the joys and trials incident thereto, have all passed away. Their 
accustomed places have been supplied by others. The anxious and 
greatly troubled Bishops Cammerhof, Seidel, and Ettwein, sweetly 



224 BETHLEHEM. 

sleep in the graveyard of the Moravian congregation; resting from 
their multifarious labors ; awaiting the general resurrection, with 
most of their co-workers at their sides. Their children and grand- 
children now occupy their places. Those palmy days of Moravian. 
Bethlehem have passed away. But we love to commune with the 
memory of the past; we love to review the lives of our forefathers; 
and we love to revert to our own accustomed places of resort, where 
the hours of leisure were spent, as well in youth as in riper years. 
They teem with reminiscences, and associated with them are the 
forms of beloved companions, and by their means voices and names 
long since forgotten are heard and recognized anew. 

All will admit that at Bethlehem nature has adorned her rural 
haunts with peculiar charms. The eye, it is true, takes in no wide 
extended panorama; but still there is mountain, valley, stream, 
and woodland scenery, varying the lovely landscape which is 
spread out as a garden southward of the elevation on which Beth- 
lehem stands. From the steeple of the large Moravian church 
northwardly we have a dim outline of the country called the " dry 
lands," designated by Count Zinzendorff as an absolute desert waste 
that never could be tilled, now teeming with the busy hum of thou- 
sands of harvesters gathering the luxuriant wheat, corn, rye, &c, 
being the very garden of the county. Southward is seen a picture, 
designed and executed in all its grace of outline and magic coloring 
only by the Great Artist himself. In the valley below once lay 
the "crown farm" of 1200 acres, which, in 1762, was valued in the 
assessment at £42 (or $112). The Crown Tavern was situated on 
this tract, near the bridge, and was occupied by Ephraim Culver. 
Three hundred of the 1200 acres were then already cleared. This 
was the favorite farm of the olden time.. The wealth of the church 
in her infancy was in a great measure drawn from this farm, when 
agriculture was her main stay and furnished the means she needed 
to spread the gospel among the Indians. The old landmarks are 
wellnigh gone : orchard, farm-house, and broad field are fast dis- 
appearing at the requirement of the present age of enterprise and 
progress. A thriving iron foundry and machine shops, extensive 



EEFLECTIONS. 225 

zinc works, and the Lehigh Valley and North Pennsylvania Kail- 
roads have usurped the places where the sheep were of old pas- 
tured by the shepherd, and to which the reapers repaired for the 
harvest, amid the sounds of festive music* 

A quarter of a century has done much to impair the beautiful 
picture. Nearly all the quaintness of Moravian life and character 
has disappeared, and though many of the self-same structures re- 
main that made their hold upon the imagination, new designs of 
architecture have, in general, supplanted the old and destroyed the 
poetry of the past. The old bridge over the Lehigh was swept away 
by the flood of 1841, and one of modern structure has taken its 
place. The woody slopes of the mountain have to a great extent 
been cleared, and the din of the railway and busy traffic mark the 
progress of civilization. Yet, through the vista of these changes, 
it is delightful to look back into the past; for the strong contrasts 
of the picture as it is, and as it was, lend additional charms to that 
which is gone and cannot be restored. As the traveller stood upon 
the old bridge, and dwelt upon the landscape, the waters of the 
Lehigh flowing beneath him, and the southern mountains thrown 
into partial shade by the declining sun, his eyes rested upon that 
wilderness of forest trees covering the spot known as the "Island." 
Umbrageous boughs invited the rambler, and suitable provision was 

* The spirit of pious simplicity which characterized the social and religious 
regulations of the early brethren, while it astonishes us at the present day, cannot 
fail to elicit admiration of their honesty of purpose and determination to live the 
life of " every day" Christians. No occasion, however trifling, but was sanctified 
with the ceremonies of religion. The following, bearing on the context, is but one 
of the numerous instances to the point. The diary of 1754, under date of July 8th, 
says : "Our musicians of the church choir, performing hymn tunes, accompanied 
the harvesters as far as the river, on their way to cut the rye on the new farm, 
which was put under cultivation last fall, near the Crown. As the weather was 
fine, all who could assist repaired to the fields — men, women, and children — alto- 
gether ninety persons. — Beth. Souvenir, p. 233. 

In connection with this pastoral simplicity mentioned, Spangenberg, in describ- 
ing Nazareth farm in 1746, in his own quaint style, says in regard to the brethren 
and sisters engaged there : " Never, since the creation of the world, were there made 
and sung such lovely and holy shepherds, ploughing, reapers, threshing, spinners, 
knitters, sewers, washers, and other laboring hymns, as by these people. An entire 
farmers' hymn book might be made by them." — Risler's Life of Spangenberg, -p. 221. 



226 BETHLEHEM. 

made for amusement and meditation ; and thus the place became a 
constant resort for all — for the denizen as well as for him who spent 
the summer months at Bethlehem. Above and around the "Island" 
the Lehigh rushes along, and the music of its waters animates the 
study which nature here presents. In its present aspect the 
" Island" varies little from its former appearance, and although it 
it is in some degree shorn of its attractions by the encroachments 
of the railway on the southern bank of the river, and the privacy 
of its solitude invaded by the locomotive, yet in its native growth 
of forest trees it possesses an inextinguishable charm. Skirls line 
the shore, and the current is stemmed by those who navigate the 
stream in order to approach and land upon the "Island." In the 
evening, as the boats glide near the pleasure ground, music floats 
upon the waters, and many gay and picturesque scenes, as in times 
of yore, delight the eye. 

" The Island," though unsung in verse, its image is embalmed 
in the minds of thousands. Nearly every visitant at Bethlehem 
during the past century has repaired to it with feelings of exquisite 
delight. What with its open glades, its sheltered coverts, and the 
green lawn, shaded by towering trees, all hidden from the world, 
we do not wonder that its pleasant borders were early chosen as 
most genial for grateful relaxation. With the return of seasons, 
it has witnessed the gayeties of Mayday, holiday, and picnic, and 
all their attendant song and mirth, mingling with the lulling flow 
of the water, and awakening echo from the hill beyond. 

But there are other haunts which dare not be overlooked. The 
northern slope of the mountain* abounds in them. Here is the 
" Old Man's Place," or " Hermitage," with its few remaining indica- 
tions of the spot where stood the cabin of the first settler, the 

* This is the so-called South Mountain, referred to in the deed of 1718 from the 
Indians to -William Penn. The writer has frequently passed over and along this 
mountain in various directions, and is led to believe that it contains within its 
bosom vast quantities of magnetic iron ores. At several localities indications of 
this ore are unmistakably presented. In a few years it will have been developed 
at different places. The discovery will add largely to the manufacture of iron in 
the Lehigh Valley, and give employment to many hundreds of workmen. 



CHANGES. 227 

murmur of the brook, as it tumbles in its rocky bed through brier 
and brake, alone disturbing the forest stillness around. The 
" Spring" on the river's bank, its shady precincts once so faithfully 
visited, but now forsaken except by the thundering train which 
dashes above the little reservoir that collects the cooling fountain 
deep in the hill-side below, and the romantic pathway up the moun- 
tain to " the Hydropathic Institute," winding through kalmias and 
rhododendrons, all overarched by the monarch of the wood. Or 
the prospect from the summit of the mountain, commanding the 
fertile plains of " Saucon Valley," where the orchards blossom in 
profusion, and the sheaves of ripened grain dot the landscape for 
many a mile, when autumn hastens apace to tarnish the summer's 
freshness with her russet hues. 

"Bartow's path," which, with its avenues of trees, led along the 
bank of the Lehigh, at the foot of Nisky Hill, is yet named only 
to awake recollections of all that is lovely and delightful in nature. 
In 1828, it made way for the Lehigh Canal, and now no vestige of 
it remains. 

The heights of "Nisky Hill"- are still the resort they were 
three-fourths of a century ago. Since their selection, in 1850, as a 
site of a rural cemetery for the Moravian church, much labor has 
been expended in beautifying the grounds, and preparing them for 
their intended use. Along the brow of this hill was the Indian 
town of Friedenhutten, built in 1746 as a temporary home for the 
Indians; but, being considered too near to Bethlehem as a perma- 
nent residence, in the same year two hundred acres of land were pur- 
chased on the Mahoni Creek, in Carbon County, and the Indians 
removed thither. 

The vineyards, where the first attempt was made to grow grapes 
in 1827, have made way for town lots in the rising village of West 
Bethlehem. The old stone bridge over the Monocacy, on the way 
thither, was removed in 1854, to make room for one of ampler 
dimensions. At the same time, the two noble willows which, since 

* " Niskeu" is a Delaware Indian word, implying a swamp or wet place, in allu- 
sion to the swampy grounds at the foot of the hill. 



228 BETHLEHEM. 

1791, stood sentinels at the pass, fell victims to the destroying axe. 
The dusty streets of South Bethlehem, heaped with coal and lum- 
ber, are fast pushing up the river, and encroaching on the green 
fields which border the public walks along its banks. The " Penn- 
sylvania and Lehigh Zinc Works," erected in 1853, have become 
the nucleus of a thriving settlement on the " Farms," southeast of 
the bridge. 

Bethlehem itself is growing rapidly. In 1814, the so-called 
"lease system" was abrogated, a measure which led to the sale of 
town lots, on ground rents, to persons of other denominations as 
well as to Moravians. On the incorporation of the Moravian con- 
gregation of the place in 1851, irredeemable ground rents became 
redeemable. These steps, in connection with the completion of the 
Lehigh Valley and North Pennsylvania Eailroad, have proved con- 
ducive to the growth of Bethlehem. In 1845 it was incorporated, 
and since then has more than doubled its population. At present, 
a thriving borough of about five thousand inhabitants, in the heart 
of a rich agricultural and mineral region, with speedy access to the 
great northern emporiums of trade, it ranks among the important 
inland towns of the State. It is true, as the Bethlehem Souvenir 
says, that strangers meet with but few indications of its once having 
been a Moravian settlement. Excepting the old row in Church 
Street, the lower Seminary building, and an occasional antiquated 
stone dwelling, its well-graded streets are built up closely with 
brick houses of modern style. The cleanliness and order which 
characterized it when a village under its original proprietors have, 
through Moravian influence, been preserved to the present day. 
In this respect it differs widely from other towns. There are no 
idlers at the corners, no vagabonds and dirty urchins staring or 
gaping at passers-by ; every one appears to be usefully employed. 
They are cheerful, affable, and respectful to each other as well as 
to strangers; their very looks denote contentment. With its 
beautiful scenery, and its proverbial healthfulness, Bethlehem still 
continues to be a favorite resort for numbers who desire to spend 
the summer months from the confinement of the city, without fore- 



MOEAVIAN" SCHOOLS. 229 

going the pleasures and comforts of society in the retirement and 
solitude of the country. 

The Moravians have always been eminently successful in edu- 
cating their youth, and training them to a high standard of excel- 
lence in the more useful branches. Their schools are noted through- 
out the United States. The school for girls was first opened in 
Bethlehem on the 5th of January, 1749, with sixteen scholars, in 
the central building of the old row, directly east of the Moravian 
church. Here the daughters of the missionaries, of ministers of 
the Gospel, and of the Brethren of the settlement were received 
from time to time. On the 2d of October, 1785, this institute was 
closed, and arrangements made in the house to receive pupils from 
abroad. In their quiet way, the Brethren acquainted the public, 
through their friends, of the arrangement just completed for the 
reception of young ladies for education. Some time elapsed before 
it received a response. In 1786 the first application was made, 
which was soon followed by others from the West Indies, New 
York, Connecticut, Maryland, and other States. Applications and 
admissions continuing to increase, the principal suggested the ex- 
pediency of erecting an additional building at an early day. The 
project was favorably entertained, and in August, 1789, its speedy 
execution finally agreed on. The building was located in the rear 
of the old row, and was completed in 1791. In 1815 it was va- 
cated by the Seminary, and in the early part of 1857, was removed 
for the purpose of erecting on its site a building in which to hold 
the day school for the children of the Moravian congregation. The 
pupils were transferred in 1815 into the old " choir house," now 
known as the Seminary building, which was originally built for 
the single Brethren in 1747-48. A large addition was made to 
this building in 1854, on the eastern end, and, at the present time, 
another addition is being made on the western end. Within the 
last few years much labor has been expended upon the pleasure- 
grounds attached to the school, which afford a convenient and de- 
lightful retreat from the noise and crowd of the school-room. 

The Bethlehem Moravian Day School has been in operation for a 



230 BETHLEHEM. 

number of years. Several years ago it was found necessary to re- 
organize the schoo], and place it on a broader and firmer basis. A 
large school-house was accordingly built at a cost of about $20,000, 
and dedicated in February, 1858. Since that time the system of 
education pursued in the institution has been very essentially 
changed under the superintendence of the Eev. Ambrose Rond- 
thaler. This change has produced excellent results. The principal 
manifests the greatest faithfulness in the discharge of his arduous 
and responsible duties. His system of instruction is thorough and 
highly practical. He is assisted by eight teachers. The whole 
number of pupils during the year ending June 30th, 1859, amounted 
to 225. This school is intended for the children of the Moravian 
congregation only. The children of other denominations are ac- 
commodated in the public schools. The whole number of public 
schools is five, which are' all in one building ; the number of scho- 
lars taught is about 225, under the management of three male and 
two female teachers. 

Unchanged by the hand of time, in the centre of the town, lies 
the Moravian graveyard. Here no costly monument marks the 
rich man's grave, nor does neglect consign the poor man to oblivion. 
Here it is easy to learn the lesson of equality ; for side by side, 
buried according to age, rest the Bishop, the Indian, and the negro. 
The horizontal marble slab, resting above the remains of each, 
bears only the impartial record of their lives. To a stranger these 
grounds resemble a park or garden, so neatly are they kept. Here 
at all times parties sit and stroll about, and the pleasures of earth 
do not appear to be overclouded, in the least, by the proximity of 
the grave. The new cemetery, as we have before stated, at Nisky 
Hill, now forms one of the most pleasant walks that the town affords. 
But the most striking features in Bethlehem are the few remaining 
edifices that once constituted the most important part of the 
ancient village. The sisters 1 house, to which we have already 
alluded, an antique-looking pile of gray stone, with its huge but- 
tresses and its receding angles, still stands there. This institution 
still to some extent fulfils its original design, and is the residence 



REMNANTS OP THE PAST. 281 

of a moderate number of elderly maidens — a lingering remnant 
of the past who still cling to old images, and look with sorrow 
upon the new. The sisters' and widows' houses still preserve their 
primitive interior arrangements, and we still find the broad oaken 
staircases, the flagged pavements, the small windows, the low ceil- 
ings, and solid walls of masonry which speak of the past, when the 
design of architecture was endurance and strength, rather than 
beauty and show. 

The Moravian church in the immediate neighborhood has always 
been held in regard for its chaste and unassuming architecture. It 
stands upon an elevated terrace at the corner of Main and Church 
Streets, and confronts us upon entering the town. The present 
ministers are Rev. H. A. Shultz and Rev. D. Bigler. In the in- 
terior of this church the Moravian rule of dividing male and female 
is still observed, and the old-fashioned benches are still used instead 
of pews. The organ was built by Geib and Son, of New York, and 
was considered one of the finest in the country. Within the vestry- 
room may be seen a small gallery of portraits by Haidt, represent- 
ing the fathers of the church, and those identified with the early 
history of the Brethren. The paintings bear an antique look, the 
artist having lived more than a century ago. Besides this church, 
there are several others which have been erected within the past 
few years, viz: — 

Lutheran and German Reformed, corner of High and Broad 
Streets. Rev. C. Welden and Rev. Heister, pastors. 

English Methodist, Centre St., opposite Wall St. Rev. T. B. 
Miller, pastor. 

German Methodist, New and Union Streets. Rev. S. Rhoads, 
pastor. 

English Catholic. 

Bethlehem has also several very fine public buildings, such as the 
Citizens' Hall, Concert Hall, Masonic Hall, and Odd Fellows' Hall, 
which are used for lectures, concerts, and meeting rooms for the 
different societies which have of late years been organized in the 



232 BETHLEHEM. 

town. Among the societies may be mentioned the Masons, Druids, 
Sons of Temperance, American Mechanics, several benevolent 
societies, Christian associations, and missionary societies. Amono - 
the most prospering societies is the Young Men's Missionary So- 
ciety, organized in 1840, for the purpose of aiding the foreign 
missions of the Moravian Church. 

In 1858 the Society was re-organized, and added another department to its 
former efforts — that of mental and social improvement among its members. In 
pursuance of this, a reading room has been established, and a library commenced, 
which is rapidly filling up. 

The Society now numbers some 300 members. In 1841 they formed a museum, 
thereby hoping to increase the funds devoted to the missionary cause. The 
museum was kept formerly in the Odd Fellows' Hall, but after the completion of the 
Moravian day school it was removed into the basement of that building. Visitors 
to Bethlehem should not leave the place without devoting a short time to the 
inspection of the small, but exceedingly interesting collection of curiosities. The 
collection itself is rather unique, as but few if any of its curiosities are such as 
are common to museums. No Captain Cook's clubs, or mermaids, or other such 
astonishing curiosities are found here, but, on the contrary, only such as are au- 
thentic. Several of these curiosities deserve particular mention : The old sundial, 
the old cannon, and the old spinet. The first is a solid mass of stone, several feet 
in length, and about half as broad. It must be more than a century old, as the 
date on its base has been deciphered MDCCXLVIII, but still its preservation is 
very complete. The figures are still legible, although the projecting angle of iron 
is broken off. Its original position was the former Brethren's House (now the 
female seminary), but was discovered some years ago as a sill to a pig-sty, from 
which ignoble position it was removed to its present more honorable station. It 
is inscribed " Gloria Pleura," one of the devotional terms of the Brethren a hun- 
dred years ago. 

The old cannon or swivel is indeed a curiosity, when compared to the highly 
finished and elegant cannon of the present day. It brings with it memories of 
the past, when the present town was confined to the dozen or so large buildings. 
Then it was, during the French and Indian war, that this rusty and broken swivel 
was placed, with five of its companions, behind the simple fortifications of the 
Brethren. Its further history is involved in obscurity. Years ago it was found, 
with the others, buried in the ground, and was used for several years by young 
Moraviandom to celebrate the 4th of July. Concerning the old spinet or piano, 
but little can be said, besides that it is a very old and interesting curiosity, show- 
ing what limited advantages the former generation of musicians enjoyed in the 
pursuit of their art. It is about four feet long, with only five octaves, and now 
totally devoid of sound except the twanging of the wires. 

Besides these, there are many curiosities, mostly gifts of the missionaries of 
the church, consisting of the work, weapons and implements of Africans, Chinese, 
South American Indians, Esquimaux and Greenlanders ; portraits of the most 
celebrated men of the church, such as Spangenberg and Zinzendorff ; a few speci- 
mens from Pompeii ; specimens of natural history, reptiles, insects, snakes of all 
kinds, and a valuable collection of minerals, shells, &c. 



BETHLEHEM WATERWORKS. 233 

Besides the societies last mentioned, there are several musical 
associations, conspicuous among which are the Philharmonic So- 
ciety, C. F. Beckel, Leader, and "Beck el's" celebrated "Cornet 
Band," L. F. Beckel, Leader ; and to keep up with the spirit of the 
age, several excellent volunteer military companies have also been 
organized, and are commanded by competent and faithful officers. 
The companies are — 

Bethlehern Artillerists ..... Capt. W. Wilson. 
Washington Grays . . . . . " J. L. Selfkidge. 
Bethlehem Cavalry ..... Col. Geo. Wennek. 

The fire department of Bethlehem is also active and vigilant, 
and consists of three companies : Perseverance, No. 1 ; Diligent, 
No. 2 ; and Reliance, No. 3. The Perseverance Engine is claimed 
to be one of the first of its kind imported into this country. It 
was purchased in London by the Moravian congregation in 1762, 
at an expense of £77 12s. 2|r/. It is now preserved as a curious 
relic. 

The waterworks at Bethlehem were the first in Pennsylvania, 
and it is said that a committee of the council of the city of Phila- 
delphia came to see these works when it was in contemplation to 
erect the waterworks in that city. The works are located on the 
Monocacy Creek, and are propelled by a water-wheel. The water is 
drawn from a spring of delightful cool water. The following facts 
in regard to the works has been kindly furnished at our request. 

The waterworks were commenced in 1761 and completed in February, 1764. 
Hans Christian Christenson, a native of Copenhagen, was the projector and mas- 
ter millwright, and received 4 shillings a day for his services. Demuth and David 
Bithoff were his assistants. The water was forced to an elevation of about 100 
feet by 3 single-stroke iron pumps (which cost £9) to the top of a wooden tower, 
55 feet high, erected on the ground now occupied by the Moravian church, and 
from there distributed through wooden mains to all parts of the village. The 
small distributing pipes were lead. The entire cost of the works, as originally 
constructed, was £522 4s. 1\d. The heavy wrought-iron crank which propelled 
the pumps was made by hand by Stephen Blum, assisted by the well-known Adol- 
phus Jorde, at that time apprentice to the blacksmith at Bethlehem, and was con- 
sidered a masterpiece of ironwork. When the wooden mains were decayed, leaden 
pipes were substituted, and the first iron pipes were introduced in 1818. In the 
same year, the reservoir in Market Street was built, and the one north of Broad 
Street in 1833. The original building is still in existence and occupied as a dwell- 
ing house. The cost of the new works was $20,000. 

16 



234 BETHLEHEM. 

The Bethlehem Gas Company was chartered in 1853, and the 
works erected during the same year, going into operation in Janu- 
ary, 1854. The capital paid in was $23,300, with the privilege to 
increase to $50,000. The cost of the works was $23,500. There 
are now laid some 12,000 feet of main pipe, which supply about 
207 dwellings, beside a large number of street lamps. 

The first newspaper printed in Bethlehem was in 1845, in the 
German language, and called Die Biene, and was published by 
Julius Held. In 1852, a monthly pamphlet, called The Moravian 
Church Miscellany, printed in English, was published by the so- 
ciety. In 1853, the first English newspaper was published, and 
called the Lehigh Valley Times, edited by E. H. Eauch. This paper 
was published for about five years, but finally was discontinued. 
At the present time, there are two papers published, both English : 
The Moravian, a monthly paper, published by the society, and The 
Bethlehem Advocate, a weekly, published by H. Reude. 

Manufacturing, in the borough proper, has not increased much 
(owing no doubt to the inconvenience of access to the railroads 
and canal), but in South Bethlehem and what was formerly known 
as Wetherill, on the opposite side of the Lehigh, large manufac- 
turing establishments have been erected, which have proved of 
great benefit to Bethlehem. We will give separate accounts of the 
different establishments, as they are located in what we shall term 
the three portions of Bethlehem : Bethlehem proper, South Bethle- 
hem, and the southern addition to Bethlehem (formerly called 
Wetherill). 

The following manufactories are located in Bethlehem : — 

One piano forte manufactory. J. C. Malthaner. 

Three carriage manufactories. H. A. Sellers, Ritter & Hoffman, and H. Sense- 
bach. 

One brewery (lager beer). Shilling & Saurbrumm. 

One distillery. F. Luckenbach. 

One tannery. W. Leibert. 

One buckwheat flour-mill. L. Snyder. 

One merchant and grist-mill. Luckenbach & Son. This is one of the original 
mills of Bethlehem congregation, having been built in 1744. 

One brass foundry. B. E. Lehman. 



MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. 235 

South Bethlehem is situated in Lehigh County, and is separated 
from Bethlehem by the Monocacy Creek, which is part of the 
dividing line between Northampton and Lehigh Counties. There 
are two hotels in the place, besides several stores and a number of 
manufacturing establishments. Here are located the sash factory 
and pianing-mill of Transue & Bros., agricultural implement manu- 
factory of C. F. Beckel, iron foundry of Beckel & Son, barrel 
manufactory of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company, and 
the saw and pianing-mill and woollen factory of Mr. Lewis Doster. 
The saw-mill was erected originally by the Moravian Society about 
the year 1743, and carried on by them until 1836, when it came 
into possession of the present proprietor, who has greatly enlarged 
it and added a pianing-mill to it. The Monocacy woollen mills 
were established in 1836 by the present enterprising proprietor, 
Mr. L. Doster. In 1841, the buildings and machinery were en- 
tirely destroyed by the great freshet, but were rebuilt the following 
year. In 1850, the present site was selected, having the advantage 
of an excellent water power furnished by the Lehigh Canal Com- 
pany. This establishment was the first and most extensive woollen 
mill in the valley. 

On the opposite side of the river from Bethlehem borough and 
South Bethlehem, within the triangle formed by the Lehigh Val- 
ley and North Pennsylvania Eailroads, lies the town of Wetherill, 
or, as it is now called, the "Southern addition to the Borough of 
Bethlehem." This town was laid out by Augustus Luckenbach, 
Esq., of Bethlehem, who called it Augusta, and several lots were 
sold under that name. At the present time the greatest part of 
the manufacturing is carried on in this portion of Bethlehem. 
Here are the extensive foundry and machine shops of Abbott & 
Cortright, who employ between forty and fifty men, and turn out 
a large number of coal, ore, and gravel cars ; also the extensive 
pianing-mill and sash and blind factory of Messrs. Steckel & Co. 
and the Zinc Metal Works of Gilbert, Wetherill, Baxter & Co. 
which last bid fair to do a thriving and remunerative business. 
This is one of the largest establishments of its kind in the country, 



236 BETHLEHEM. 

employing over a hundred hands. At present, the company manu- 
facture the white zinc paint exclusively, but are makiDg active 
preparations for the erection of furnaces for the manufacture of 
metallic zinc. The works are now under the management of Jo- 
seph Wharton, Esq., as general manager, and Mr. Nathan Bartlett, 
superintendent. In addition to the extensive mines owned by this 
company, within the last few months several new ones have been 
opened, a few miles from Bethlehem. As this branch of manu- 
facture is of great importance in the Lehigh Valley, we give the 
following somewhat lengthy but interesting history and description 
of the works, &c, which, at our request, has been kindly furnished 
to us : — 

The Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company was incorporated May 2d, 1855, 
"for the purpose of mining zinc ore, and other ores found in connection therewith, 
and of manufacturing zinc paint, metallic zinc, and other articles, from said ores 
in the counties of Lehigh and Northampton, and of vending the same," with a 
capital of $1,000,000, divided into shares of five dollars each. All of the directors, 
and most of the stockholders of the company, are Philadelphians. 

The zinc works of this company are substantial brick buildings, occupying a 
tract of four acres of land on the southern bank of the Lehigh river, opposite the 
town of Bethlehem, and between the Lehigh Valley and North Pennsylvania rail- 
roads. 

The building of these works was commenced in the spring of 1853. In the fall 
of the same year they were put in operation, and they have since then been run 
almost continually. Many improvements and additions have, however, been made 
from time to time, so that the present capacity of the works is much greater than 
it originally was, and their total cost has largely exceeded $100,000. 

At this establishment the zinc ores from the company's mines in Saucon Valley 
are manufactured into white oxide of zinc, superior in quality to any other made 
in America, and nearly approaching in excellence to the best imported. 

The several patent-rights under which the company works, have cost them large 
sums of money, and form, with the heavy outlay required for mines and factories, 
a barrier to the starting of rival enterprises. 

The entire process of manufacture practised here consists, in effect, of the fol- 
lowing operations, viz: The ore, pulverized and mixed with coal, is strongly 
heated in furnaces which are fully supplied with air ; the metallic zinc which is 
thereby extracted in the form of vapor, is instantly oxidized, and the oxide of zinc 
thus formed, being an exceedingly light powder, is carried immediately from the 
furnaces by a strong artificial draft, together with large quantities of gases, and 
such ashes, &c, as are light enough to float in a current of air. These ashes are 
taken first and separated and deposited with the coarser particles of zinc oxide in 
rooms provided for the purpose ; a part of the pure zinc oxide is afterwards caught 
in chambers, and finally tb tses are all strained out by an immense apparatus 
of flannel and muslin ba r , to t ner surface of which the last and finest of the 

zinc oxide adheres, wlv .ce it is rt ved at proper intervals. 



PENNSYLVANIA AND LEHIGH ZINC COMPANY. 237 

The zinc oxide which is thus collected in the chambers and bags, is in the form 
of a very white, fine, and fiocculent powder, which is compressed by proper' appara- 
tus into much smaller bulk, and is then carefully packed into strong, tight, paper- 
lined casks. 

The process is on the whole a remarkably simple one in theory, and is conducted 
with very little manual labor ; but of course to produce an article of the excellent 
and uniform quality made by the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company, requires 
constant care and a complete knowledge of the business. 

These works are now capable of turning out about 2500 tons of zinc oxide per 
annum, and the production can be extended as the demand increases, without 
very much enlarging the present building, to nearly double that quantity. 

It is not so generally known as it should be, that a large proportion of the so- 
called " French zinc paint" sold in this country is made of the zinc oxide produced 
at this establishment, by grinding it carefully with good oil, and with little or no 
adulteration, while a large part of the lower grades of zinc paint, such as are sold 
under various fancy names, and are supposed by consumers to be the best Lehigh 
zinc, or the best American zinc, are made of this same zinc oxide, with different 
degrees of adulteration, and more or less carefully ground. 

The casks and barrels used for packing the zinc oxide are made by the company 
at their barrel-works, on the north bank of the Lehigh, with machinery driven by 
the water-power of the Lehigh Canal ; the company also own a paint-mill, which 
is on the same premises with their barrel-works. 

The company's zinc mines are believed to be practically inexhaustible, and to 
be surpassed by very few in the known world. They are situated near the village 
of Friedensville, in Saucon Valley, four miles south of Bethlehem, on the main 
road to Philadelphia, and close to the southern foot of the southernmost spur of 
the Lehigh Mountain. 

At this place the company own, in fee simple, about 160 acres of land, besides 
the mineral right of other lots adjoining, embracing, altogether, the entire range, 
from the top of the mountain to the village of Friedensville ; the great deposit of 
calamine known as the " Ueberroth Zinc Mine," lies nearly in the centre of the 
company's land. 

The deposit of zinc ore was first discovered by Mr. T. H. Roepper, of Bethlehem, 
about the year 1845 ; but several years elapsed before it attracted much attention, 
and no considerable mining was carried on there until within the last six years ; 
in that period about 40,000 tons of zinc ore have been taken out, and the mine 
now exhibits to a practised eye, greater resources than at any previous time. 

About one acre has been uncovered, and worked out to an average depth of 35 
feet, but shafts sunk from the surface around this opening prove that a much 
greater area is underlaid with ore, and borings now being made in the bottom of 
the mine, which have reached the depth of over 110 feet, show that the zinc ore 
extends at least to that depth. 

Geological observations and comparison with old European mines indicate that 
the ore continues, in all probability, to a depth of several hundred feet. 

The ore found here is mostly silicate of zinc, though great masses of carbonate 
of zinc also occur, both of most excellent quality. It exists in masses varying 
from thousands of tons to small veins mingled with clay, filling the large cavities 
and interstices of the dolomite or magnesian limestone, which is here the prevail- 
ing rock ; a sort of schist or slate appears in some places near the zinc ore, par- 
ticularly near its southern limit. Some persons of intelligence suppose that the 



238 BETHLEHEM. 

primitive rocks of the mountain already mentioned, will be found to underlie the 
dolomite and zinc ore, at the depth of some hundreds of feet. 

At this mine the company have efficient washing and pumping machinery, 
driven by steam, together with substantial and appropriate engine-house, work- 
shops, &c. All their land not actually required for mining purposes is in a high 
state of cultivation as a farm, and is provided with all suitable buildings and ap- 
paratus for that purpose. 

Numerous and expensive explorations have been made in all directions, for miles 
around the " Ueberroth Mine," but all, with a very few exceptions, have failed to 
develop a particle of zinc ore. It has been very pertinaciously asserted of some 
of these trial shafts (especially in the vicinity of Allentown,) that they cut through 
abundance of zinc ore. But competent examination of the spots, and analysis of 
authentic specimens have disproved the existence of zinc, except in the few places 
above alluded to. Some of these have yielded good specimens of zinc ore, and two 
have even been worked to some extent ; but none has yet proved to be more than 
an outlying pocket or deposit, subordinate to the central mass in the Ueberroth 
Mine, just as similar streaks and pockets occur in the neighborhood of the princi- 
pal European zinc mines. 

It may be proper to remark that the early career of the Pennsylvania and Le- 
high Zinc Company was very injuriously affected by the unsound manner in 
which its operations were commenced, by a party of New York speculators, who 
were ignorant of the business, and whose arrangements looked no farther than to 
a speedy sale of the company's stock, at the highest possible prices. Now, how- 
ever, that the concern has passed into the hands of men of sufficient means and 
business ability, who have established it under a charter from the State of Penn- 
sylvania, and have worked through the principal difficulties incurred by its 
originators, it seems to stand on a solid basis, especially when it is considered that 
in regard to the important matters of cheap mining, cheap coal, and short lines of 
transportation to the markets of New York and Philadelphia, no zinc mine could 
be better situated in the United States, than the Ueberroth Mine, while all now 
known to exist are very far inferior to it. 

In estimating the value of the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company's opera- 
tions to the valley of the Lehigh, it must be borne in mind that the $300,000 
worth of merchandise which it can produce annually, is made exclusively from 
the natural productions of that valley, and it is past doubt that the importance 
of the zinc interest in this region will be vastly increased when the manufacture 
of spelter or metallic zinc is added to that of zinc oxide. This will surely be 
done before long, since it is certain that no locality in the world has greater natu- 
ral advantages for spelter-making (unless cheapness of skilled labor can be so 
called), and recent experiments by the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company, 
and by other parties, have actually produced considerable quantities of spelter of 
most excellent quality, at a cost low enough to demonstrate that no difficulties 
exist in the way of making it to a profit, except such as can be overcome by per- 
severance and further study of the business. 

Besides the different manufacturing establishments in this part 
of Bethlehem, and the large number of dwellings erected for the 
accommodation of the employees, we may mention the handsome 
country seats of Kobert H. Sayre, Esq., Superintendent of the 



TRAVELLING A CENTURY AGO. 289 

Lehigh Valley Eailroad; 0. H. Wheeler, A. Fiot, and others, 
which, from being situated on the mountain side, afford an exten- 
sive and magnificent view of the surrounding country. Here is 
also located the celebrated Hydropathic Institute of Dr. Opplett, 
which has been for many years the resort of invalids for the reco- 
very of their health. Among other things in this neighborhood, 
worthy of note, is the natural cave a short distance above the 
depot. The cave is about eighty feet in length and fifteen high, 
and was discovered a few months ago by some workmen who were 
engaged in making some excavation at that place. 

In 1857 the North Pennsylvania Eailroad was completed to this 
place. This road is about fifty-five miles in length, and at its 
terminus at the Bethlehem station is 227 feet and llf inches above 
tide-water. It is one of the best constructed and managed roads in 
the country. Bethlehem, at the present time, is its northern ter- 
minus, but the company are now making active preparations for its 
completion to Easton, and from thence on to the Delaware Water 
Gap and Stroudsburg. 

By means of this road passengers from Philadelphia reach 
Bethlehem in two hours and a half, it being the shortest and most 
expeditious route from Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley. 

In contrast with the present rapid manner of travelling, we will take a retro- 
spective view of the century which has passed since the commencement of Bethle- 
hem. In doing this, we find that in 1742 the first settlers came along the great 
and well-trodden Indian trail that led from the city of Philadelphia northwardly. 
This trail or path crossed over the West Branch of Delaware (as the Lehigh River 
was generally called) at Jones's Island, about one mile below Bethlehem. In his- 
tory and in the earliest records of Northampton County it was known as the old 
Minisink path, and for many centuries had been used by the Minsi Indians, 
whose principal habitations were north of the Blue Mountains. David Nitchman 
and his company of about one hundred persons came to Bethlehem in 1742, along 
this path, on foot, with pack-horses which carried some of the necessary imple- 
ments for the commencement of the settlement, &c. In 1745 the first roads in 
this section of Northampton County were laid out ; the former mode of travel, 
however, remained the same for many years. During the Indian and Revolutionary 
wars from 1755 to 1782 all public business was transacted by means of expresses 
on horseback. Travelling to Philadelphia by private individuals of Bethlehem 
was, during that period, very rarely undertaken ; and, with the exception of the 
storekeeper and tavern-keeper of the village, who visited Philadelphia twice a 



240 BETHLEHEM. 

year to purchase their supplies of goods, but very few, if any, Bethlehemites visited. 
the city during the course of a year. 

On the first day of July, 1792, the post-office at Bethlehem was established, with 
Joseph Horsefield appointed as postmaster. Then commenced the era in which 
stages came into vogue. During the first several years a trip to Philadelphia 
occupied nearly two days' time, and was afterwards reduced to a day and a half; 
and in 1798 we find in the Philadelphia Advertiser an advertisement by five pro- 
prietors of the mail-stage between the city and Bethlehem, &c, that they propose 
to run the stage through in one day, and, with more and less expedition, these 
stages continued in use until the completion of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, 
in January, 1857. The shortest trip made by stages was about eight to nine hours. 

In regard to travelling by private members of the Bethlehem Moravians, the 
rules of the society made it incumbent upon them to have the consent and ap- 
proval of the clergy to leave the town for even a day's time, and the undertaking 
of a journey to Philadelphia or New York was first taken into serious consideration 
by the town council (or Overseers' College, as this tribunal was called), as well as 
by the clergy in general conference assembled. Moravianism was carried out in 
the travelling article as well as in every other. The most rigid precautions were 
taken so that no one of its members (unless imperious necessity intervened) 
would or could come in contact with " the world." 

Very few of the Moravians availed themselves of the public stages in the early 
period of their use. Their retired habits made it very uncongenial to them to be 
in the company of strangers. They betrayed a certain awkwardness, which all 
outsiders readily observed, and consequently they very frequently became the butt 
if thrown into a promiscuous society. And, in fact, the Moravians at Bethlehem, 
from 1742 to 1800, whilst they lived in the world, were not of " the world." There- 
fore a more congenial method of travel was adopted, in order to avoid the annoy- 
ances mentioned. There was a private stage in Bethlehem, owned and conducted 
by one of the church-members ; this was hired by parties for the purpose. It was 
customary, whenever a person had any business call from any town, to defer 
attending to it until others had similar motives inducing them to take a journey; 
in this wise six or eight persons associated themselves, and hired Mr. Adam Luck- 
enbach and his stage. To carry out this intention frequently required several 
weeks' negotiations until the company was formed. Before starting, several days 
or more were consumed to make the needed preparations for the journey. All 
manner of cakes and pies were baked, hams boiled, coffee ground, &c. &c. The 
event created great interest in the town ; and in the families of the members of 
the party a commotion was observable that portended an unusual occurrence. 
This preparation was necessary. In elucidation of it we must add that our tra- 
vellers did not stop at any of the taverns along the road. The stage-driver took 
with him a bag of oats, which was safely stowed under the seat of the stage, a 
bucket for watering the horses swung under the body of the stage, and a trough 
for feeding the horses, which was tied on behind. Thus provided, he fed his 
horses at a spring or brook alongside the road, whilst the passengers regaled 
themselves out of the store of provisions in their baskets. Upon arriving at a 
tavern or farm-house in the evening, they asked the use of a coffee or tea-pot ; the 
exhilarating beverage being prepared by them, each recurred to his or her basket, 
and appeased their appetite out of it. This manner of travelling was consonant 
to the feelings of Moravians. 



BEAUTY OF THE COUNTRY. 241 

"We have endeavored thus far to give to " the world" a general 
description of the peculiarities of the early Moravians and their 
institutions. Much more might be written did our space permit, 
but as we have already overstepped the bounds allotted to us for 
this interesting subject, we will close the article with the following 
entertaining letter of a visitor, descriptive of the place and the 
means of reaching there. 

Three hours in the cars of the North Pennsylvania Railroad will introduce the 
weary, toil-worn citizen to this rural town. 

It is always well in travelling to take things as comfortably as possible, and, 
therefore, if you have a choice between starting in the morning and reaching your 
destination in the middle of the day and starting so as to arrive at your proposed 
stopping-place towards the cool of the evening, by all means take the latter course. 
Acting upon this principle, we took the afternoon train for this place in preference 
to the morning train, which gets in about noon. The ride on the North Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad was delightful. The cars are comfortable, the road well and solidly 
laid, so that there was but little jar, and there was scarcely any perceptible dust. 
The absence of dust, which is one of the great annoyances of railroad travelling, 
was owing to the fact that the road throughout its entire length is ballasted with 
stone. The country through which the road passes is of itself well worthy of 
attention. The rich farms of Montgomery and Bucks Counties were to be seen in 
all their beauty and perfection. The long-continued rains of the early summer had 
kept the scorching suns of the last few weeks from so parching the ground as to 
deprive vegetation of its verdure and beauty. The hay crop had mostly been 
gathered, but here and there a luxuriant field of clover lay green in the sunlight, 
the delicately tinted blossoms mellowing and adding richness to the general hue of 
the field. The broad acres of oats and wheat stood waving their golden and life- 
sustaining burden, ready for the reaper ; or long rows of grain already cut and 
bound in sheaves awaited transportation to the ample barns. Numerous fields of 
corn in dark and glossy green showed careful farming and a favoring season. It 
was a bright, clear afternoon, and the atmosphere without even a haze. Far off on 
the left, as we passed through the lower part of Montgomery, the hills on the other 
side of the Schuylkill stood out against the western sky, the distance giving a faint 
bluish tinge to their forest-crowned summits. A mile or two beyond Sellersville is 
the tunnel, twenty-one hundred and fifty feet long, cut through Landis's Ridge. 
The road-bed is here four hundred and thirty-three feet above the level of the sea. 
Still ascending as we advance, about ten miles beyond the tunnel we reach the 
summit at Same's Gap, five hundred and ninety-seven feet above tide-water, and 
just on the boundary between Lehigh and Bucks. And now we begin to descend, 
following the valley of the Saucon Creek, till about two miles this side of Bethle- 
hem, when the road takes a westerly direction, and soon strikes the banks of the 
Lehigh, and, keeping close along the river, connects with the Lehigh Valley Road 
at the Bethlehem station. 

Omnibuses are in waiting to take travellers to the different hotels. We found 
our way to a hotel, where we were speedily made comfortable, and the sound of 
the tea-gong was not unwelcome after our three hours' ride. 

Where can we journey to find a spot more attractive in its early history and 

17 



242 BETHLEHEM:. 

associations, or one more truly beautiful in all its rich surroudinngs, than Bethle- 
hem ? The beautiful Lehigh which runs along its borders, the great hills which 
encircle it, the pleasant valleys which spread themselves out for your admiration, 
are a constant and never-failing source of pleasure to the lover of the beautiful in 
nature, while the quaint old buildings of the town are a study to those who love 
the antique in architecture. 

Here, in the early evening, a fleet of boats, filled with gay company, crowd the 
river ; and in these aquatic sports we have seen as much skill displayed by young 
and beautiful girls as we are accustomed to witness in the amateur rowers of our 
own fair Schuylkill. An island, richly planted with tree's, and lying a short dis- 
tance above the town, is the favorite resort of those who row upon the river. It is 
a cool, shady spot, embracing some twelve or fifteen acres, sacredly guarded by the 
authorities, to be held forever as a pleasure-ground for the people. 

Another famous place of resort is Nisky Hill. Here the grounds are handsomely 
laid out with gravelled walks, and well planted with a varied collection of trees. 
A shady walk, extending along the bluffs of the Lehigh, affords the visitor some of 
the finest views the eye of man ever rested on. 

The close borough system of the early, pious settlers has at length yielded to the 
outside pressure ; the barriers erected around the missionary establishment by the 
pioneers of the wilderness have been broken down by the throng of admirers who 
sought to fraternize with the followers of Zinzendorf. All men may now purchase 
land within the borough limits, and live under the shadow of their own vine. The 
brother who feels disposed to take upon himself the cares of a family may woo and 
win the fair one of his choice. The days of the lot have passed away forever ! 

Bethlehem is full of interest to the student of Pennsylvania history. It lies 
within the celebrated Walking Purchase. 

The headquarters of Heckewelder and other venerable missionaries among the 
children of the forest were at this village. It was the scene of the sufferings of the 
survivors of the massacre at Wyoming, as they made their forlorn journey over the 
mountains back to their early homes in Connecticut. It was the resting-place of 
Lafayette after the battle of Brandywine ; here his wounds were healed under the 
kind care of the good Moravians. Here, too, that gallant Pole, Pulaski, received 
from the fair sisters of Bethlehem that crimson banner, beautifully wrought by 
their own hands, which he gallantly bore at the head of his column through many 
a martial scene, until he fell in conflict at Savannah. The event has been em- 
balmed in verse by Longfellow. 

" Take thy banner : May it wave 
Proudly o'er the good and brave," &c. 

The visitor to Bethlehem enjoys the advantage of many a pleasant walk and ride 
through a beautiful country, presenting many diversified features in its landscape ; 
and, even while reposing after the fatigue of healthful exercise, the eye is charmed 
and never wearied with looking out upon the mountain sides covered with forests 
and watching the changing effects of light and shade upon the dark, rich foliage as 
the fleecy clouds, gently wafted through the blue sky above, cast their shadows 
over the sunny hill-sides. If you have but a day to spare, come here. You will 
find the people kind-hearted and generous, the women fair to look upon, and the 
men strong in the knees. 

Soon after leaving the railroad station at Bethlehem we take 
leave of the county of Northampton and enter that of Lehigh ; we 



PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. 243 

are carried along at a rapid rate in the cars of the Lehigh Valley 
Company for the distance of six miles, when we reach the beautiful 
and enterprising borough of Allentown, the seat of justice of 
Lehigh County. The road from Bethlehem is lined on both sides 
the greater part of the way with excellent and well-cultivated 
farms, among which is the one (now the Geisinger farm) which 
was owned, in 1737, by Solomon Jennings, one of the walkers of 
the so-called " Walking Purchase." Before entering into a descrip- 
tion of Allentown, we will give a short sketch of the county and 
its resources. 



LEHIGH COUNTY. 

Lehigh County was separated from Northampton County by an 
act of Assembly passed the 6th of March, 1812. It is bounded on 
the northwest by the Blue Mountains, separating it from Schuyl- 
kill and Carbon Counties, northeast by Northampton, southeast by 
Bucks, and southwest by Montgomery and Berks Counties. It 
contains three hundred and eighty -nine square miles, or two hun- 
dred and forty-eight thousand nine hundred and sixty acres. 

The physical appearance of the country is diversified. The sur- 
face is generally level, in some places rolling, in others rugged and 
somewhat broken. The South Mountain crosses the southeast 
portion of the county. This mountain range is a primary forma- 
tion, abounding with iron ore. Between the South and Blue 
Mountain is the fertile Kittatinny valley, perhaps unsurpassed in 
agricultural wealth, and is highly cultivated by an industrious 
class of our worthy fellow-citizens, Germans by descent, whose 
habits of industry and frugality they still retain, and whose lan- 
guage they speak. The valley portion of the county is nearly 
divided between the limestone and clay slate formation. The most 
important productions are those of agriculture. In a fertile region 



244 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

like this an industrious population naturally look to the tillage of 
the soil as their surest dependence for support and profit. Con- 
siderable progress has, however, been made in many branches of 
manufacturing industry, and the development of the mineral re- 
sources of the country within the last ten or more years shows that 
there are vast deposits of iron ore in the county, which now supply 
a number of furnaces, with an aggregate number of tons amounting 
to upwards of one hundred thousand per year. Along the northern 
portion of the county are found vast beds of excellent slate, which 
have of late years been raised and manufactured for roofing, school 
slates, and ornamental purposes; and we may confidently calculate 
that in a quarter of a century (or probably only half of that time) 
the manufacturing interest of the county will largely overbalance 
the agricultural, notwithstanding the latter, by scientific improve- 
ments, may have doubled in the same period. The editor of the 
AUentown Democrat, in speaking of the advantages possessed by 
this county, says : " Our county is small — a disadvantage in some 
respects — but it is one of the sixty-four that go to make up the 
State of Pennsylvania — the keystone in the arch of this great 
confederacy. We are aware that many portions of the State have 
natural advantages that we have not and never can have; yet our 
county possesses others equally to be prized that they do not. 
First we shall see what Lehigh County presents to the beholder on 
its earth's surface. Let hay-making and harvest tell. But recently 
you could behold fields of yellow waving grain as far as the eye 
could reach. Not a nook, hill, or dell but what yields bountifully, 
answering to the work and desires of the farmers as faithfully and 
truly as does the noble ship to its helm on the bosom of the stormy 
ocean. As an agricultural county, there is none superior in the 
State, and especially do the rich townships of Saucon, the two 
Macungies, the two Whitehalls, Salisbury, and Hanover, yield a 
plentiful return to the honest, hard-working farmer; of which their 
splendid houses, barns, outhouses, fences, and the magnificent con- 
dition of their farms, is the best proof. The land in these townships 
is a yellow clay, a limestone soft, mixed in part with sand ; it is 



MINERALS. 245 

interspersed with hill and dale, and there is, indeed, very little that 
cannot be cultivated. The land in the townships of the two Mil- 
fords, Lynn, Heidelberg, Washington, Lowhill, and Weisenburg, is 
mixed partly with gravel and slate, and no soil, with the judicious 
use of lime, can add more to the wealth of the farmer, of which they 
appear to be fully aware, as thousands of bushels of lime are yearly 
used by the cultivators of these townships, and with excellent 
success, as their land not only produces the fullest and healthiest 
grain, but always brings a higher price in market than any other. 
"We possess a climate healthy all the year round. We have no 
sickly seasons of fevers, of cholera, and other epidemics, which 
usually prevail throughout the land. Having come down this far, 
we will say something about the mineral wealth of the county. 
We have inexhaustible beds of iron ore, zinc, copper, manganese, 
copperas, &c. Iron ore is found in abundance in the townships of 
North and South Whitehall, Upper and Lower Macungy, Hanover, 
Salisbury, and Upper and Lower Milford, in veins from four to 
forty feet thick, and so near the surface as to be mined with the 
greatest ease; it is of different kinds, such as rock, pipe, shell, 
kidney, and black and red sheer, which yield from seventy to 
ninety per cent. In Saucon, they have rich and valuable beds of 
zinc. Copperas is plenty, but is not mined. We also have fire 
clay, porcelain clay, and hydraulic cement of the best quality and 
in inexhaustible quantities. 

" There are many other objects in Lehigh County which might be 
used as a handle to boast with, but boasting is not our province at 
present; we simply wish to show that although we are an unas- 
suming people, we possess within our limits more of real value 
than many other counties more favored and less deserving of the 
works of art than we are." 

The following statistics from the Census Bureau exhibit the pro- 
ductive industry of the resources of Lehigh County in the year 1850, 
a year which, by the way, was by no means remarkable for general 
prosperity : — 



246 LEHIGH COUNTY 

Number of acres of improved lands 

Value of farming implements and machinery 

Value of live stock 

Quantity of wheat grown, in bushels 

" rye " 

" Indian corn 

" oats " 

" buckwheat 

" potatoes 

" pounds of butter 

" tons of hay 

" gallons of wine 



141,935 

$404,(548 

$725,382 

261,301 

327,505 

397,048 

289,669 

28,265 

181,482 

838,816 

30,332 

995 



At the time of taking the last census (1850) rye appeared to have 
been the main crop, but since that time the farmers have turned 
their attention almost exclusively to the cultivation of wheat. 
From the breadth sown last year, and the extraordinary yield of 
this great staple, the crop of the present year in this county will 
hardly fall short of eight hundred thousand bushels. All other crops 
are said to have yielded a corresponding increase over 1850. 

Farming is, throughout Pennsylvania, little less than well organ- 
ized systematic labor; but still only a monotonous routine of 
physical toil, too seldom relieved by mental exercise or enjoyment. 
This is unfortunate. It is the result of old established prejudices, 
deeply rooted in our German population, who, resisting every 
modern innovation, hold fast to the time-honored principles, pre- 
cepts and examples of their forefathers, and regard it as a moral 
duty to " follow in their footsteps." They therefore, with few ex- 
ceptions, plough, plant, and reap pretty much in the old way, 
without deviating to the right or left, but by industry, frugality, 
and close attention to their affairs, generally gather a fair share of 
wealth, which is finally distributed amongst their children, who, in 
turn, will possibly travel over the same beaten track of agricultural 
life. 

Farming in early times was different from the present. After 
the building of a small log house, the farmer proceeded to clear 
some acres of land which generally yielded a good crop ; the 
second, third, and succeeding years more land was cleared. The 
first cleared, after yielding several crops, became impoverished, 



MODES OF FARMING. 247 

and then was left lay " fallow" for some years ; tbis, in the course 
of eight to ten years, increased the " fallow" lands of the farm so 
much, that it became necessary to depend mostly upon the new 
made grounds. The " fallow" fields being once more made use of 
did not yield so well as new land, and thus in process of time 
became in a great degree almost worthless by repetition of the 
process. About 1770, many of the now best farms did not yield 
more than one to two hundred bushels of rye, which now yield 
one to two .thousand bushels of wheat and rye. A traveller 
through the township of Macungy in 1784, remarks: "The dry 
limestone soil appears not to be well adapted for raising of wheat," 
and adds, that " some persons have of late thought to renovate it, 
by applying lime over the surface of it, but this procedure will, in 
my opinion, not have the desired effect." In 1787, the first agri- 
cultural society was formed in the city of Philadelphia; experi- 
ments were made with plaster and lime ; through this society a 
change was wrought, which, about the commencement of the nine- 
teenth century, had been the means of introducing the new method 
into this county, after having conquered all obstacles and preju- 
dices, which were many and great. Many thousand acres of lime- 
stone lands north, east, and west, of the borough of Allentown 
were left in their pristine state, unsold and unoccupied until after 
the Eevolutionary War; the very name of a settler upon these 
lands had become a byword; to be called a "Drylander," implied 
a poverty-stricken individual ; many a time has the writer in his 
youth heard it thus applied. The term applied to the lords of the 
soil of South Whitehall, Macungy, and Hanover, would be very 
inapplicable at the present time. These despised lands have be- 
come the most luxuriant in the county. In the year 1773, it is 
shown by the assessment that there were 37,394 acres of improved 
lands, of which were sown in grain 8,869 acres, in the following 
townships, viz: — 



248 



LEHIGH COUNTY. 





Cleared. 


Grains. 




Upper Milford . 


7096 acres. 


1283 acres. 


156 farmers 


Macungy 


6459 


it 


2002 " 


136 " 


Whitehall . 


6070 


it 


1223 " 


117 


Upper Saucon 


. 5792 


a 


1028 " 


84 " 


Lynn 


3412 


a 


860 « 


118 


Heidelberg 


2905 


it 


904 " 


101 


Salisbury . 


2400 


u 


572 " 


48 " 


Weisenburg 


2189 


a 


562 " 


78 


Lowhill 


1131 


a 


435 " 


48 " 



37394 



8869 



886 



This shows that only about one-fourth of the lands were then 
improved, upwards of 180,000 acres being in woodlands, or in the 
pristine state. 

The following list shows the tradesmen in the townships named 
in 1763. 



Upper Milford . . 
Upper Saucon . 
Macungy 

Salisbury . . . 
Heidelberg . . . 
Whitehall . . . 
Weisenburg . . 
Lynn .... 
Lowhill .... 
Allentown . . . 

Totals 



50 



56 20 



14 11 22 



112 



13 



4 2 



1 177 



The list of tradesmen in the territory comprising Lehigh 
County (with the exception of Hanover, which then was included in 
Allen Township, and there could not readily be adapted for the 
purpose of this investigation) will show that the tradesmen were 
very few in proportion to the farmers; this clearly establishes the 
fact that the farmers performed the necessary work themselves 
in most instances. In a large number of houses stood the weaver's 
loom, in a corner of the lower room of the farm-house, upon which 
the females wove the flax and hempen and tow linens, for the supply 
of the family, the flax and hemp for which had been raised on the 



TAXES ON LAND. 249 

farm, and spun by the females; it is evident that the fourteen 
weavers could not do the work for the eight hundred and eighty- 
six farmers, neither could the twelve shoemakers provide shoes 
for them, notwithstanding one pair of shoes sufficed for a year's 
wear; so, also, the eleven carpenters and the seven masons could 
not erect the buildings which were yearly put up. There is no 
other statement that could be made that would give us a clearer 
or more minute idea of the habits and practices of the "olden 
time," than can be elucidated from this list, and further, we must 
take into consideration that, however, the persons represented as 
the tradesmen they were occupied at those trades only part of the 
time, as nearly every one of them had from twenty to one hundred 
acres of land to attend to and farm in the proper season. 

The taxes on the land were trifling in comparison with the 
present rates. A farm of about two hundred acres paid from 
eighty cents to one dollar and fifty cents. John Lichtenwalder, of 
Macungy, paid the greatest amount of taxes, $2 42 for four hun- 
dred acres of land, &c. The laborers paid ten to twelve cents, and 
for rents of houses and lots, about $4 to $8 per year, including 
firewood, some acres of land, &c. The fifty poor people paid no 
taxes (though some of them owned thirty to forty acres of land). 
The farmers raised wheat on the new lands for the first and second 
crop, subsequently rye and buckwheat (Indian corn was not 
planted before 1780). The wheat was carefully husbanded, being 
the only resource for obtaining money; it was taken on wagons to 
the mills, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and there sold ; only upon 
an extraordinary occasion a loaf of wheat bread appeared upon a 
table of the inhabitants ; rye and buckwheat were altogether used by 
the farmers and others, excepting, perhaps, Jacob Moore, the baker 
at Allentown, who, we may infer, supplied the lads and lasses with 
gingerbread, made of wheat flour, at the frolics in Allentown, to 
which they flocked from all parts of the county. 

The upper part of the county was overrun by the Indians in 
1763 ; for we find that on the 15th of October, 1763, Governor 
Hamilton called the attention of the Assembly to the sad condition 



250 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

of the settlers of Lynn, Heidelberg, Whitehall, and Macungy 
Township, of the then county of Northampton. Their houses 
were destroyed, their farms laid waste, barns, grain, fences, &c, 
burnt to ashes, and eighteen persons murdered. All the inhabit- 
ants fled to places of safety. The persons murdered were inoffend- 
ing Germans, who had never molested an Indian. 

At the early period, when our forefathers were building small log 
houses (with light admitted into them by means of oiled paper in- 
stead of glass), sheds for stables, and clearing new land and fencing 
it chiefly with poles or brush, a hearty, sincerely good will for each 
other generally prevailed among them. They all stood occasionally 
in need of the help of their neighbors, who often resided several 
miles distance from them through the woods. Chronic ailments were 
then not so frequent as at present, which was, perhaps, owing to the 
wholesome diet, brisk exercise, lively manners, and cheerful and 
unrefined state of the mind. But acute diseases, such as fevers in 
various degrees, those called long fevers, dumb agues, fever and 
agues, sore throats, and pleurisies were much more common than 
now. The natural smallpox was peculiarly distressing, was mostly 
severe, and often mortal, and nothing strange that it should be so. 
The nature of the disorder being but little known, it was very im- 
properly treated. A hot room, plenty of bedclothes, hot teas, and 
milk punch, or hot tiff, were pronounced most proper to bring the 
eruption out, and to make it fill well, and the chief danger was 
apprehended from the patient taking cold by fresh air or cold 
drink. This mode of ill-directed kindness produced scenes of 
afflicting distress, nearly whole families being ill at once. Rum 
was esteemed absolutely necessary for the sick, and nearly as much 
so for the attendants ; a dram, either raw, sweetened, or with worm- 
wood and rue juice, and chewing, but more commonly smoking 
tobacco, were used as antidotes against infections or offensive 
smells. A dram, or the pipe, amused the vacant time, and was 
supposed to be useful. 

As money was scarce, laborers few, and business often to be done 
that required many hands, friends and neighbors were commonly 



USE OF ARDENT SPIRITS. 251 

invited to raising of houses and barns, grubbing, chopping, and 
rolling logs, that was to be done in haste, in order to get in the 
crop in season. Rum, and a dinner or supper were provided on 
these occasions, and much competition excited in the exercise of 
bodily strength and dexterity, both at work and athletic diversions. 

Reciprocal assistance, being much wanted, was freely afforded 
and gratefully received, and, notwithstanding the rude and un- 
polished state of mind and manners that may be expected to have 
prevailed in the first settlers in a wilderness country, and in a much 
more marked degree in those who succeeded them, yet from their 
mutual wants and dependencies, the social and active vivacity of 
their simple nature, and, perhaps, more than all these, a kind and 
unaffected friendship, formed a prominent principle of their general 
character. When false impressions, or ignorance, have so far 
gained ground as to influence general habits and customs, it re- 
quires much labor, and a long time to wear them out. This 
appears evident in the use that is made of spirituous liquors and 
tobacco. It is probable that the first settlers used these articles 
to ward off infection ; and spirits were principally used to prevent 
the bad effects of drinking water, to which they had not been 
accustomed in Europe. They imagined the air and water of this 
hot climate to be unwholesome. The immediate bad effects of 
cold water, when heated with exercise in summer, and the fever 
and agues which seized many in autumn, confirmed them in this 
opinion ; the drinking of rum being countenanced by general 
opinion, and brought into general practice as far as their limited 
ability would admit. Bottles of rum were handed about at vendues, 
and mixed and stewed spirits were repeatedly given to those who 
attended funerals. An act of Assembly was passed, prohibiting the 
giving of spirits at vendues, and though the law was not much re- 
garded for many years, and the practice continued, yet this mis- 
chievous and dishonest practice is now almost wholly disused. 

At births many good women were collected, and wine, rum, and 
whiskey for the guests were esteemed suitable to the occasion. 
Rum was believed to be essentially necessary for a lying-in woman. 



252 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

The new-born infant must be straitly rolled around the waist with 
a linen swathe, and loaded with clothes until it could scarcely 
breathe ; and when awake or fretful, was dosed with rum and water 
stewed with spicery. It is plain that their manners and customs 
were not yet changed from the rude and unpolished practices of 
antiquity, to the proper standard of propriety. A great degree of 
roughness and rusticity of mind and manner prevailed for some 
time, and increased in the generations that succeeded the first set- 
tlers. For this there are several reasons ; first, the great want of 
schools, the small stock of learning in master and pupil, but more 
than all, the free use of rum in haytime, harvest, etc. On all these 
occasions, quarrels and fights frequently occurred, and among the 
lower class of people a low degree of knowledge and want of respect 
to themselves or others prevailed, so that much might be seen and 
heard among them that was "low lived" in the full sense of the 

term. 

i 

Previous to the year 1755 (the commencement of the " Indian 
war"), the Indians who resided in the county were kind neighbors 
to the white people, whom they frequently supplied with meat and 
sometimes with beans and other vegetables, which they always did 
as charity, bringing presents to their houses and refusing pay. 
The Indian children were sociable and fond of play ; a harmony 
was kept up between them until 1755. Native simplicity reigned 
then in its greatest extent. The difference between the families of 
the white man and the Indian was not great, when, to live was the 
utmost hope, and to enjoy a bare sufficiency the greatest luxury. 
Before this time, no occurrence happened, materially to disturb the 
general tranquillity ; everything, both public and private, went on 
in an even and regular routine, their moderate wishes were fully 
gratified, necessaries and conveniences were gradually increased, 
but luxuries of any kind, except spirituous liquors, were rarely 
thought of or introduced. 

The preceding account will apply with general propriety to the 
state of things until the Eevolutionary War. The quota of men 
drafted in Northampton County, as the portion of the ten thousand 



RECRUITS FOR THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 253 

men for the Flying Camp (as it was called), was three hundred and 
forty-six; of this number about two hundred came from that por- 
tion of the county embraced in the present Lehigh County, and we 
find from the Bethlehem Diary, that on the 30th July, 1776, " one 
hundred and twenty recruits from Allentown and vicinity passed 
through this place to the " Flying Camp in the Jerseys," and on 
the 10th February, 1777, the Diary says that, " for the past week, 
we have been informed of threats made of some militia in the 
vicinity of Allentown, against us and our town." (The threat we 
may suppose to have arisen from the Tory principles of many of 
the inhabitants of Bethlehem.) The inhabitants of the country 
comprising Lehigh County were not backward in showing their 
attachment to the principles of the Kevolution.* Yet there were a 
few who, for private gain, violated the laws enacted for the further- 
ance of the highly prized liberties we now enjoy ; one of these laws, 
from its singular restrictions, is here introduced in a case (occurring 
in the county), for the purpose of preserving the knowledge of it, 
as well as the difficulties which attended the revolutionary move- 
ment, and made the enacting of such a law expedient or necessary. 
It is entitled an act "To prevent forestalling and regrating, and to 
encourage fair dealing," passed January 2d, 1778. (See McKeen's 
Laws, p. 97, 1778.) Under this law a prosecution was brought in 
Northampton County, of which the following is a copy : — 

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania -| For purchasing a number of cattle with- 
vs. L out a permit to do so, contrary to an act 

John Peter Miller, of Macungy. J of General Assembly to prevent forestall- 
ing and regrating, and a complaint lodged by Mich'd Shaefer, committee-man of 
Macungy Township. 

John Peter Miller, tent in . . . . £500 Upper Milford, farmer 

Peter Miller 250 Macungy, " 

Peter Fox 250 " tailor 

Taken the 3d Sept., 1779, cond'n for app. of J. P. Miller, at the next Court of 



* There was no battle fought in Lehigh County, as has been stated by some 
historians, and the enemy never invaded its territory. In the Bethlehem Diary, 
page 181, it is stated that upon the refusal of the Americans to have the laboratory 
for the manufacture of cartridges at that place, it was removed to Allentown. This 
was on 23d September, 1777. 



254 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

Gen. Qr. Sessions, to be held at Easton, &c, int. to be of good behavior, &c. A 
true copy, &c. ROBERT LEVERS, C. D. Peace. 

Taken and acknowledged before ROBERT LEVERS. 

The object of this act of Assembly was to prevent the enemy 
from purchasing cattle for the supply of their armies, by agents 
whom they employed, and who paid a higher price for cattle in 
gold than the American government paid in the depreciated con- 
tinental bills. The temptation to transgress the law, it would ap- 
pear, Mr. Miller could not resist ; but the vigilant Mr. Shaeffer, 
whose duty it was, as the committee-man for Macungy, to inform 
the General County Committee of Safety, prevented Mr. Miller 
from profiting by the transgression. The necessities of the Ameri- 
can army were oftentimes very great, and cattle, through the fre- 
quent levies made throughout the whole country, became scarce ; 
farmers themselves, in many instances, could not retain a sufficient 
supply for family use; this, among other methods of economy, in- 
duced them to supply the place of tallow for candles by substituting 
the so-called candleberry bush for that purpose. It is stated by a 
traveller through this country in 1779, that on his arrival at a 
public tavern (which, from the description, was Dorney's, near Cedar 
Creek, on the road to Reading), a candle was brought in the even- 
ing of a greenish color ; inquiring of the landlady, he was informed 
that she made the candles herself from a bush growing along the 
fences of the farm. Desiring a description of the process, the tra- 
veller was informed that^the bushes were taken and cut into small 
pieces and boiled in a kettle, and the wax or tallow swimming on 
the surface skimmed off with a ladle, and thus continued until a 
sufficient quantity was obtained. The candles burned with a very 
clear light. 

It may not be out of place here to allude to the great scarcity of 
salt during the Eevolutionary War. Mention is made in the Beth- 
lehem Diary of Br. Horsefield's going to Philadelphia in 1777 to pro- 
cure some, at which time he only could get one bushel, for which 
he paid eight dollars. At other times, there was none at all to be 
had for "love or money." Many persons in the county used a 



TRIALS FOR TREASON. 255 

certain plant as a substitute, which was dried and rubbed fine. 
This, strewed over meat, preserved it very well ; it also answered 
in their other culinary purposes. The plant was of the fern species. 
The Indians, from whom the white people obtained the knowledge 
of the plant, were (on the arrival of Sir Walter Ealeigh's expedition 
in America, in 1583) found using it for the purpose of giving 
flavor to their broth. Mark Lane, a scientific gentleman attached 
to that expedition, alludes to it, and it is likewise mentioned by 
Jno. Smith, the founder of Jamestown in Virginia, in 1606. 

Lehigh County having been part of Northampton, its early his- 
tory is merged in that of the county from which it was formed. In 
1798 and 1799 scenes occurred of no ordinary interest, a principal 
part of which transpired in this county, and therefore here noticed. 

Shortly after the election of John Adams to the Presidency of 
the United States, several acts were passed by Congress which 
were obnoxious to a portion of the people of East Pennsylvania, 
in consequence of which Berks, Bucks, and Northampton pre- 
sented scenes of excitement. In Northampton, which then included 
Lehigh, a party, headed by one John Fries, resisted the attempts 
by the federal government to collect a direct tax, well known 
by the name of the "house tax." 

The following extracts are from a report of the trials published 
in Philadelphia, in 1800, by "W". W. Woodward. Eeported by 
Thomas Carpenter, in short hand. 

Trial of John Fries and others for Treason. 

Mr. Samuel Sitgreaves (of Easton) opened the trial on the part of the United 
States. The following are extracts from his speech : — 

It will appear, gentlemen, from the testimony which will be presented to you, 
that during the latter months of the year 1798, discords prevailed to an enormous 
extent throughout a large portion of the counties of Bucks, Northampton, and 
Montgomery, &c, and that considerable difficulties attended the assessors for the 
direct tax in the execution of their duties. That in several townships associa- 
tions of the people were actually formed, in order to prevent the persons charged 
with the execution of those laws of the United States from performing their duty, and 
more particularly to prevent the assessors from measuring their houses ; this oppo- 
sition was made at many public township meetings called for the purpose ; in many 
instances resolutions in writing were entered into, solemnly forewarning the officers 
and many times accompanied by threats — not only so, but discontents prevailed to 



256 . LEHIGH COUNTY. 

such a height, that even the friends of the government in that part were com- 
pletely suppressed by menaces against any who should assist those officers in 
their duty ; repeated declarations were made, both at public as well as at private 
meetings, that if any person should be arrested by the civil authority, such arrest 
would be followed by the rising of the people, in opposition to that authority, for 
the purpose of rescuing such prisoners. Indefatigable pains were taken, by 
those charged with the execution of the laws, to calm the fears and remove the 
misapprehensions of the infatuated people. For this purpose they read and explained 
the law to them, and informed them that they were misled into the idea that the 
law was actually not in force, for that it actually was : at the same time warning 
them of the consequences which would flow from opposition : and this was accom- 
panied with promises that even their most capricious wishes would be gratified on 
their obedience. The favor was in many instances granted, that where any opposi- 
tion was made to any certain person executing the office of assessor, another should 
be substituted ; in some townships proposals were made for people to choose for them- 
selves, but notwithstanding this accommodating offer, the opposition continued. The 
consequences were, actual opposition and resistance ; in some parts violence was 
actually iised, and the assessors were taken and imprisoned by armed parties, and 
in other parts mobs assembled to compel them either to deliver up their papers, or 
to resign their commissions, that in some instances they were threatened with 
bodily harm, so that in those parts the obnoxious law remained unexecuted in 
consequence. The state of insurrection and rebellion had risen to such a height, 
it became necessary to compel the execution of the laws, and warrants were in 
consequence issued against certain persons and served upon them ; in some in- 
stances, during the execution of that duty, the marshal met with insult, and 
almost with violence ; having, however, nearly the whole of the warrants served, 
he appointed head quarters for these prisoners to rendezvous at Bethlehem, where 
some of them were to enter bail for their appearance in the city, and others were 
to come to the city in custody for trial. 

On the day thus appointed for the prisoners to meet, and when a number of them 
had actually assembled, agreeably to appointment, a number of parties in arms, 
both horse and foot, more than a hundred men accoutred with all their military ap- 
paratus, commanded in some instances by their proper officers, marched to Bethle- 
hem, collected before the house in which were the marshal and prisoners, whom 
they demanded to be delivered up to them, and in consequence of refusal, they 
proceeded to acts very little short of actual hostility, so that the marshal deemed 
it prudent to accede to their demands, and the prisoners were liberated. 

This, gentlemen, is the general history of the insurrection. I shall now state to 
you the part the unfortunate prisoner at the bar took, in these hostile transactions. 
The prisoner is an inhabitant of Lower Milford, Bucks County. Some time in 
February last, a public meeting was held at the house of one John Kline, in that 
township, to consider this house tax ; at that meeting certain resolutions were 
entered into, and a paper signed (we have endeavored to trace this paper so as to 
produce it to the court and jury, but have failed) ; this paper was signed by fifty- 
two persons, and committed to the hands of one of their number. John Fries was 
present at this meeting, and assisted in drawing up the paper, at which time his 
expressions against this law were extremely violent, and he threatened to shoot 
one of the assessors, Mr. Foulke, through the legs, if he proceeded to assess the 
houses ; again the prisoner, at a vendue, threatened another of the assessors, Mr. S. 
Clarke, that if he attempted to go on with the assessment, he should be committed 



OPPOSITION TO THE COLLECTION OF TAXES. 257 

to an old stable, and there fed on rotten corn. The assessor in Lower Milford was 
intimidated so as to decline making the assessments, and the principal assessors, 
together with three other assessors, were obliged to go into that township to execute 
the law. At the house of Mr. Jacob Fries, on the 5th March, Mr. Chapman (the 
assessor), met with the prisoner, who declared his determination not to submit, 
but to oppose the law, and that by next morning he could raise seven hundred 
men in opposition to it. 

(Fries and his partisans continued to follow and persecute several of the asses- 
sors, chasing them from township to township, in parties of fifty to sixty, most of 
whom were in arms, with drum and fife. Fries was armed with a large horse 
pistol, and accompanied by one Kuyder, who assisted him in command. Thus 
equipped, they went to Quakertown, seized two assessors, and attempted to fire at 
another, who ran away, but the firearms did not go off. They examined the 
papers of the assessors, and exacted a promise that they should not proceed in the 
valuation of the houses in Lower Milford. They abused a traveller who had the 
independence to stand up for the government. At Quakertown, learning that the 
marshal had taken a number of prisoners, they resolved to effect their rescue ; the 
people of Milford were invited to assist in this business, and a paper setting forth 
their design was drawn up by Fries, at his own house, and signed by the party.) 

On the morning of the next day, twenty or more of them met at the house of 
Conrad Marks. Fries was armed with a sword, and had a feather in his hat. On 
the road as they went forward they were met by young Marks, who told them they 
might as well turn about, for that the Northampton people were strong enough to 
do the business without those from Bucks County. Some were inclined to do so, 
but at the instance of Fries and others, they went forward, and actually proceeded 
to Bethlehem. Before their arrival, a party going on the same business had 
stopped at the bridge near Bethlehem, where they were met by a deputation from 
the marshal, who advised them to return home. They agreed to halt there, and 
send three of their number to declare to the marshal their demand. During this 
period, Fries and his party came up, but it appears, when they came, Fries took 
the party actually over the bridge, arranged the toll, and ordered them to proceed. 
With respect to the proceedings at Bethlehem, it cannot be denied but that he was 
then the leading man. With the consent of his people he demanded the prisoners 
of the marshal, and when told by that officer that he could not surrender them 
except they were taken from him by force, and produced his warrant for taking 
them, Fries harangued his party at the house, and explained to them the neces- 
sity of using force ; and that none should mistake his design, it was proven that 
he declared " that was the third day which he had been out on this expedition ; 
that he had had a skirmish the day before, and if the prisoners were not released 
he should have another that day. ' ' 

"Now you observe," resumed he, "that force is necessary; but you must obey 
my orders. We will not go without taking the prisoners. But take my orders 
you must not fire first, you must first be fired upon, and when I am gone you must 
do as well as you can, as I expect to be the first man that falls." He further de- 
clared to the marshal that they would fight till a cloud of smoke prevented them 
seeing each other, and executing the office of command of the troops, which at that 
time overawed the marshal and his attendants. He harangued the troops, desir- 
ing them to obey his orders, which they did. The marshal was really intimidated 
and liberated the prisoners; and, the object accomplished, the party dispersed 
amid the huzzas of the insurgents. After this affair at Bethlehem, Fries frequently 

18 



258 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

avowed his opposition to the law, and justified that outrage, and when a mooting 
was afterwards held at Lower Milford to choose assessors, he refused his assent, 
and appeared as violent as ever. 

Most of the ahove statements were proved, including a variety of other details. 
Fries, after two trials, in both of which he was found guilty of treason, was sen- 
tenced to he hung, hut was subsequently pardoned by John Adams. 

Several others from the same vicinity were tried, and generally found guilty of 
the subordinate crimes of sedition, insurrection, and riot. They were imprisoned 
for a time, and heavily fined, and held to bail for good behavior. George Gittman 
and Frederick Hainey were also condemned for high treason. Among the dis- 
affected who had been taken prisoners by the marshal, and who were rescued by 
the insurgents, was one Jacob Eyerman, a German minister who had lately arrived 
from Germany. He seems to have exerted nearly as much influence as Fries in 
stirring up the people in Chestnut Hill and Hamilton Townships. History does 
not state to what sect he belonged, but the testimony would seem to show that he 
strongly favored the "church militant." One of the assessors testified, that while 
on his round of duty in Chestnut Hill Township, the prisoner (Eyerman) came in 
and began to rip out in a violent manner against this taxation, saying that Con- 
gress had made laws which were unjust, and the people need not take up with 
them ; if they did, all kinds of laws would follow, but if they did not put up with 
this, they need not with those that would come after, because it was a free country : 
but in case the people admitted of those laws, they would certainly be put under 
great burdens. He said he knew perfectly what laws were made, and that the 
president nor Congress had no right to make them. That Congress and the 
government only made such laws to rob the people, and that they were nothing 
but a parcel of damned rogues (or spitzbube). 

To the question, " Were the people of the township much opposed to the law ?" 
the witness replied, "Yes, they were so violent that I knew but one man on the 
same side as myself." " Would this have been so, if it had not been for the par- 
son ?" "I am fully convinced it would not." "Did Eyerman appear to be a 
simple sort of a man, easily to be led away or deluded ?" " No, he was not thought 
so, he was always a very good preacher." 

Question by the prisoner. " Did I not pray for the government, president, and 
vice-president ?" "Yes, you did when in the pulpit, but when you were out, yon 
prayed the other way." 

John Snider deposed that he lived in Hamilton Township, and knew the prisoner ; 
as much as he understood, the prisoner meant to take arms against it. He said if 
we let that go forward it would go on as in the old country, but that he (Eyerman) 
would rather lay his black coat on a nail, and fight the whole week, and preach 
for them on Sundays, than that it should be so. 

" How long has this man been at Hamilton ?" " About eighteen months. " " The 
township was always peaceable, I suppose, before he came among you ?" " Yes, 
and I believe if he had not come, nothing would have happened of the kind." 

Another witness said that the prisoner came to his house, where conversation 
began about the house tax, whereupon he said he did not care whether they put 
up with it or not, for he had no house to tax. A person present answered : " But 
you have a great quantity of books to tax." The prisoner answered, that " If any- 
body offered to tax his books, he would take a French, a Latin, a Hebrew, and 
Greek book down to them, and if they could not read them, he would slap them 
about their ears till they would fall to pieces." The prisoner continued preacher 



BlffGULAB OCCURRENCE, 269 

to that con [regal on till he was taken "p. After the rescue he fled to New Iforl 
State, i" 1 ' was apprehended and brought back, and found guilty of conspiracy, &e 
&e,, was sentenced to be imprisoned one year, pay fifty dollars fine,and give • 
eurity for his good behavior one year. About thirty others were convicted, and 
fined and Imprisoned according to the, degree oi crime. 

Profi '.< Ebeling,inhi Historyoi Penn plvania, part 0tb, page 500, atti 
the disturbance in Northampton and Bucks Counties in a • over 

bearing di po ition and conduct of Jacob Byerly, who had been appointed by the 
President of the United States tlwrofficer to collect the direct taxes in Northampton 
County, and charges him likewi (e with having loft the Republican party by whom 
he had been elected a representative in the State Legislature i" L700,and gone 
over to the Federal! it party, &c. &c, 

Mr, Bbeling's authority foi h re principally founded upon the view 

ta1 en by the editor of the Awora (a Democratic paper In the city of Philadelphia), 
and in the whole, theentire affair Is made to appear rery trifling, and 

the Republicans deridingly (warranted byoi i ircumstanoe ) called 

the "Hot Water War." 

Mi i rerlyre ' ;, 'i in Nazareth next to the house of William Henry, at this time 
aent throughout several counties. Mr. Byerly frequently received anony 
in', ii letters, threatening to burn down hi beta i , '•> injur'-, him in his person, one 
of which had been long preserved by the writer as a curiosity ; on the | 
drawn a pistol andasword with the inscription; "With these things we will 
punish the damned tax men." r n,<-, writer, being then only ten years old, was 
tinder apprehension of mischief being done to his father as well as Mr, By* 
William Henry carried on a manufactory of mt ■ ' , nd at the time of gre< '• 
i five oi his vorl men employed in watching the premises with 
and! bayonei ' ; ": ng the night for two or three months. 

Byerman was taken prisoner upon a warrant I iued by William Henry, ■■■ 

■ him, Thewritei vas present when the-eonstable brought him, and 

recoiled that he was a tall man and dressed in his preacher's suit of black cloth. 

/ill the Gierman population of Northampton County m re more or le affected by 

pirit of opposition to the hot etax. The exeitemenl ■ that 

of inhabitants, uiding all i ' brl of the better informed pi 

allay the adverse feeli 

We tvill close thi ilight sketch of Lehigh Countywith an account of the follow- 
tng singulai occurrence which tool place some time during the Revo i o 
War, in Salisbury Township,and which i : . yetcredited bymany of the inhabif 
of that part of the county. A farmer who had been of a quarrel lome di po lition, 
and engaged in man/ Bghi , tiel i oed, died, and w& buried in th< d at 

tached to the Salisbury church, on a December afternoon, 'i his church was a small 
log building with a pulpit of the tulip-shape, having logs with boards laid there 
'<n for geal i. Within half a mile of this church there was a tavern, where the 
neighboring farmers generally congregated on a Sunday afternoon to procure some 
of their favorite apple jack or West India rum, and to tali over their neighbors' 
(and ometimu \ their own) bun,' . .. Sanday wasthe daywhich best advanced 
the pecuniary Interest of the landlord. The young lads and la i met there 
from the neighborhood, the former to see the girl i, to pitch quoits, to pract se the 
hop, step, and jump, to try their strength In lifting and throwing heavy weights, to 
wrestle, and other rti (tic divei ion , generally closing the day with several brawls 
or fight 1 1 '> iticufl , under the prompting influence of the favorite beverage*. On 



260 LEHIGH COUNTY. 

the Sunday following the funeral of their neighbor, his death became the subject 
of conversation, his character whilst living discussed, and his feats recounted. 
Amongst the company present was one man, who, on a late occasion, had received 
from the deceased a complete drubbing, the marks of which he yet bore. This man, 
with some others, remained with the host until the moon had arisen in a cloudless sky. 
When, after partaking of a few parting glasses of their favorite beverage, the company 
dispersed, he, in company with another, whose home lay beyond the churchyard, 
past which their road lay, proceeded tottering along through a small sprinkle of 
snow of several inches in depth, that had fallen on that afternoon. The one who 
had had the fight with the deceased, when nearing the graveyard, became very 
much excited, called upon the deceased by name, and with the most horrid 
imprecations dared him to come forth from his grave to fight, and when he came 
to the graveyard he scrambled over the stone wall with which it was inclosed, 
and taking off his coat and rolling up his shirt sleeves, standing upon the new 
made grave, demeaned himself in such a furious manner that his companion 
(whose sight was also somewhat dimmed by the landlord's rum) imagined that 
he saw the evil one rising up to take the part of his victim. Upon this he decamped 
as fast as his legs could carry him. Next morning, having become sobered, he 
returned to the spot where he had left his companion ; with several passers who 
were attracted by his calls, a search was commenced at the grave, where a severe 
tussle seemed to have taken place ; following the track over the wall towards a 
clump of trees near by, they found under one of them marks of blood and portions 
of clothing, and what appeared to them like marks or prints of hoofs. On looking 
up on one of the saplings, they discovered clotted blood adhering to it. Some of 
the bark seemed torn off as if in desperation, with here and there pieces of flesh 
and parts of clothing up to near the uppermost branches of the tree, and it was 
thought by one of them that he could smell brimstone on some of the rags of clothing 
which they found. 

Nothing further was ever heard of this man. His mysterious disappearance for 
many years formed the theme of the evening conversations at many a farmer's 
house. Hundreds of persons from far and near came to view the locality, and all 
left the spot convinced that the Devil had taken the man to his sooty mansion, 
notwithstanding his determined resistance. The story is not yet forgotton in 
Salisbury and many other neighborhoods in Lehigh County, and full credit is given 
to it in all its details. 

The old churchyard was for many years deserted, and the walls and building 
suffered to decay, as a haunted spot. Within the last few years, however, a neat 
new brick church edifice has been erected on the spot, where the neighbors wor- 
ship without fear of any unhallowed person. 



ALLENTOWN. 



The borough of Allentown, the seat of justice of 'Lehigh County, 
was incorporated by act of Assembly in 1826. It is situated at the 
junction of the Lehigh River, and Little Lehigh Creek, seventeen 
miles from Easton, sixty miles from Philadelphia, and ninety-two 
miles from New York. 

Allentown derived its name from its founder, James Allen, who 
laid it out in 1762. Originally it is found to have received the 
name of Northamptontown, thus stated in the assessment list from 
1762 to 1800, when the name of Allentown is first found. In 1826 
the former name was again resumed in the act of incorporation of 
the borough, but, this occasioning innumerable mistakes, the name 
of Allentown was re-assumed by an act of legislature in 1838. 
"William Allen, the father of James, speculated very extensively in 
lands, and in 1760 owned three thousand acres in the present 
county of Lehigh, on a part of which the town was laid out. James 
Allen came into possession of this tract in the same year in which 
he laid out the town. William Allen was once one of the most 
prominent citizens of Philadelphia ; he had been appointed chief 
justice of the Supreme Court in 1750, which office he held for many 
years. His father's name was also William. In Proud's History 
of Pennsylvania, it is said, "William Allen was the son of William 
Allen, who died in Philadelphia in 1725. He had been an emi- 
nent merchant in the city, and a considerable promoter of the trade 
of the province, a man of good character and estate." (Proud, vol. ii. 
p. 188.) William Allen (the younger) was a particular friend of 
the Penn family, and his daughter Ann was married to Governor 
John Penn. Secretary James Logan, in a letter to Thomas Penn 
in England ; says of Mr. Allen in reference to his land speculations 



262 ALLENTOWN. 

that " he had a method of procuring a knowledge of the quality 
or worth of the lands, which he effected by private agreements he 
made with the surveyors who traversed the wild lands of North- 
ampton County, to whom he gave douceurs ; in this manner he 
became the wealthiest of the land speculators, as persons desirous 
of purchasing good tracts would purchase from him in preference 
to all others." Judge Allen had married the daughter of Andrew 
Hamilton, one of the former deputy governors under William Penn. 
He had three sons, Andrew, James, and "William. In 1777, the 
Judge not sympathizing with the revolutionary movements, re- 
tired to England, where he died in 1780. Andrew also went to 
England, where he died in 1805. William had joined the American 
army as colonel of a regiment, but likewise, in 1777, put himself 
under Lord Howe's protection at New York, and subsequently 
went to England. James died in 1777 in Philadelphia, leaving the 
property at Allentown to his children, Mrs. Greenleaf, Mrs. Tilgh- 
man, and Mrs. Livingston. 

Some of the descendants of James Allen for many years resided 
at Allentown, where they had elegant mansions in or near the 
town. The last of the family, Walter 0. Livingston, Esq., left the 
borough a number of years ago, and is now a resident of Phila- 
delphia, where the writer has met and obtained from him a part of 
the foregoing history of the family. The olden history of the 
borough possesses a considerable degree of interesting matter. The 
first notice of the site upon which the town was subsequently laid 
out, is found in the draft of a road laid out in 1753 from Easton 
towards Eeading, surveyed by J. Schulze. Upon this draft is laid 
down upon the site where Allentown is, the words "Allen's House ;" 
and other records show that the more familiar name that distin- 
guished that gentleman's house, was "Trout Hall." 

The name of " Trout Hall" indicates a practice among the mem- 
bers of the Allen family, of coming to this their country place 
frequently accompanied by large parties of their friends and ac- 
quaintances from the city of Philadelphia, during the proper season 
for fishing and hunting. The delicious trout was then very plenty 



INDIAN MODE OF CATCHING FISH. 263 

in the streams in the neighborhood. The governor occasionally 
formed one of the party. 

A passage in one of the volumes of the Pennsylvania Archives 
states, that upon a call of some gentleman at the governor's house, 
in the city of Philadelphia, he was informed that the governor was 
not at home, "having gone with Mr. Allen to his fishing place." 
Yarious laws had been passed before the Revolutionary War, tend- 
ing to the preservation of fish in the rivers Delaware and Lehigh, 
one of which had a rather singular penalty attached to it, in sub- 
jecting the seller of rockfish under twelve inches in length, to a 
fine and forfeiture of the fish so offered ; the object was to preserve 
the species from destruction. In the early period of the settlement 
along the Lehigh, and before the erection of dams in the Lehigh 
Eiver rendering it available for the transportation of coal to Phila- 
delphia, it was a resort of the shad, which, in the spring season, 
found their way from the ocean far up into its fresh waters to 
deposit their spawn. The faithful journalists of Bethlehem inform 
us that on the 10th of May, 1752, 1000 shad were taken ; May 18, 
1785, 900 were caught; May 5, 1786, 700; May 21, 1787, 180 
shad and SO rockfish. The mode of catching the shad or other 
fish was borrowed from the Indians. ''When the shad came up the 
rivers the Indians run a dam of stones across the stream where its 
depth will admit of it, not in a straight line, but in two parts, verg- 
ing towards each other in an angle. An opening is left in the 
middle for the water to run off; at this opening they place a large 
box, the bottom of which is full of holes. They then make a rope 
of the twigs of the wild vine, reaching across the stream, upon 
which boughs of six feet in length are fastened at the distance of 
two fathoms from each other. A party is now dispatched about a 
mile above the dam with this rope and its appendages, which be- 
gins to move gently down the current, some guiding the ends, 
while others keep the branches from sinking by supporting the 
rope in the middle with wooden forks. Thus they proceed, fright- 
ening the fish into the opening left in the middle of the dam, where 
a number of Indians are placed on each side, who, standing on the 



264 ALLENTOWN. 

two arms of the angle, drive the fish, with poles and a hideous 
noise, through the opening into the box or inclosure. Here they 
lie, the water running off through the holes in the bottom, and 
other Indians, stationed on each side of the box, take them out, and 
fill their canoes." 

In 1753, a road was laid out from Bake-oven Knob, at the Blue 
Mountain, towards the place where Allentown is situated ; it passed 
the spring now called " Helfrech's," near the Jordan Creek, about 
two miles northwardly from Allentown. The cave at this spring 
was then called " Gunner's Hole." The name is significant of the 
fact that the hunters on the neighboring heaths therein deposited 
their game for a time in order to preserve it from taint ; the cave> 
being cool, was well adapted for this purpose. 

A petition was presented to the court of Northampton County 
for a road, signed by Peter Kohler, Paul Balliet, Lorenz Guth, and 
others, from Peter Kohler's mill, in Upper or North Whitehall 
Township, to pass " through the town, then being laid out, to be 
called Northampton." This, in the absence of other testimony, 
fixes the period of the laying out of the town to 1762.* The first 
notice of the town, given in the assessment lists, is in 1764, when 
thirteen families resided in it. It may be possible that some 
houses had been erected in 1763, and also in 1762, yet this does 
not appear. " Trout Hall," or " Allen's house," was very probably 
erected soon after the grant of the road in 1753. The thirteen 
houses in 1764 we may with great certainty conclude to have been 
the small, one-story log shanties, some of which the writer recol- 
lects having seen at the place about fifty years ago, and there is no 
doubt but that some of the inhabitants of Allentown are living 
that will recollect the first houses in the place. The inhabitants 
were then all of them miserably poor, being Germans who had 
but recently immigrated to America, and, therefore, generally very 
helpless, slow in erecting proper dwellings, particularly as each 
man was forced by necessity to be his own architect, carpenter, and 
mason ; the axe, or adze, and trowel were all the tools used, and a 

* Also corroborated by Walter C. Livingston, Esq., of Phila. 



X) 




jspfe 

■■■r\ 



£& 



\i 



6. 



ll/y IfltUslsl 




TRADESMEN IN 1776. 265 

plane was not seen in Allentown for many years. In 1764, the 
following were the inhabitants, viz : — 



Leonhard Able, laborer. 
Simon Brenner, carpenter. 
David Desbler, shopkeeper and beer- 
shop. 
Martin Derr, wheelwright. 
Martin Froelich. 
George Leyendecker, locksmith. 



George Lauer. 
Dan'l Nunnemacher. 
Abraham Rinker. 
Peter Schwab. 
Peter Miller, tailor. 
George Wolf, tavernkeeper. 



In 1765, the following are added : — 



Tobias Titus, baker. 
Lorentz Hauch, butcher. 
Frantz Kuper, cooper. 
Phillip Kugler, mason. 



Phillip Klingenschmidt. 
Frederick Schachler, shoemaker and 
tavernkeeper. 



In 1766, the families numbered thirty-three, and in 1774, forty- 
nine. In 1766, it appears that some of the first inhabitants had 
removed, as other names are found in three places. Doctor Gott- 
fried Bolzius had then purchased Deshler's shop and beer-house ; 
his practice of the Esculapian profession of itself was probably 
insufficient for his support. Several paid rents of $4 to $8 for 
houses. Martin Marthage paid .£15, or $40, rent for the house 
and distillery he occupied. In 1776, there were fifty-four houses, 
seven of which were taverns, viz., Nicholas Fuchs, Henry Hagen- 
buch, Michael Kelchner, Michael Schroeder, George Weiss, and 
Phillip Klotz; two shopkeepers, viz., George Graff and Phillip 
Boehm ; one potter, Abraham Albert ; one mason, James Preston ; 
one doctor, Gottfried Bolzius; one hatter, Peter Berger; one wheel- 
wright, Joseph Derr; one smith, Martin Froelich; three shoe- 
makers, viz., Henry Gross, Phillip Klotz, and George Schreiber ; 
three tailors, Andrew Gangwehr, Peter Miller, and Abraham 
Savitz ; one tobacconist, Peter Keiper ; one saddler, Peter Lynn ; 
one gunsmith, John Moll ; four carpenters, Jacob Newhart, Jacob 
JSTunnemacher, John Miller, Jr., and Dewalt Miller ; one butcher, 
Michael Nagel. It appears from this list that there were seven 
taverns, or about one to every eight houses, and already in 1764 
there were two taverns and a beer-house to the sixteen families ; 
the supply was probably " equal to the demand." 



266 



ALLENTOWN. 



In 1776, James Allen received ground rent of seventy-one lots 
at nine shillings sterling for each. He then possessed six hundred 
acres of land, which was valued at £8 per one hundred acres ; his 
taxes in the aggregate were $9 60, provincial tax. The number 
of inhabitants was about three hundred and thirty in 1776. The 
houses and lots were generally rated in the tax lists of 1762 to 
1766 at twelve shillings, or $1 60 each, and the taxes from 10 
cents to twenty cents. Taverns were assessed at $6 to $10. 

In 1782, the town contained fifty-nine dwellings, owned by the 
following persons : — 



Abraham Albert, potter, 


1 house. 


Conrad Krumback, 


1 house. 


John Bishop, tailor. 






and 50 acres of land. 




George Breiner, shoemaker. 






Michael Kuntz, joiner, 


1 " 


Jacob Bachman, laborer, 


1 


(i 


John Keiper, tobacconist, 


1 " 


George Blank, tailor, 


1 


a 


Andrew Young, shoemaker, 


1 " 


James Preston, mason, 


1 


it 


Jacob Yeohl, 


1 " 


Gottfried Bolzius, doctor, 


1 


it 


John Moll, tailor, 


1 " 


Christ'n Bemper, shoemaker, 


1 


a 


John Miller, joiner, 


1 " 


John Dyler, laborer, 


1 


a 


Peter Miller, tailor, 


1 " 


David Deshler, 


1 


a 


John Murphy, watchmaker, 


1 " 


grist and saw-mill and 75 acres of land. 


Thomas Mewhorter, tanner, 


1 " 


Charles Deshler, shopkeeper. 






Henry Nunnemacher, weaver, 


1 " 


Michael Erhard, shoemaker. 






and 23 acres of land. 




Martin Froelich, 


1 


a 


Jacob Neihard, joiner, 


1 " 


Nicholas Fox, innkeeper, 


1 


a 


Leonhard Nagel, laborer, 


2 houses 


George Gangewere. 






Nicholas Ott, mason, 


1 house. 


William Gall, laborer. 






Phillip Riller, laborer, 


1 " 


George Graff, 


1 


a 


Peter Rhoads, shopkeeper, 


1 " 


Jacob Gens, laborer, 


1 


tt 


George Reeser, laborer, 


1 " 


Andrew Gangwere, tailor, 


1 


a 


Andrew Reel, innkeeper, 


1 " 


Frederick Gabel, carpenter, 


1 


a 


Matthew Ringel, smith, 


1 " 


Henry Gross, inkeeper, 


1 


a 


Abraham Rinker, hatter, 


1 " 


Mat'w Gangwere, wheelwright 


. 




Christ'n Schick, laborer. 




Barthol Huber, tanner, 


1 


it 


George Shreiber, 


1 " 


John Horn, hatter, 


1 


it 


and 25 acres of land. 




Peter Hertz, laborer, 


1 


tt 


Henry Shade, 


2 houses 


Lawrence Hauck, laborer, 


2 houses. 


Michael Shrader, 


1 house. 


Peter Horbach, laborer, 


1 house. 


Richard Steer, skindresser, 


1 " 


Henry Hagenbnch, inkeeper, 


1 


it 


John Spade, laborer, 


1 " 


Peter Hauck, shoemaker, 


1 


a 


Joseph Smith, shoemaker, 


1 " 


Abraham Henry, skindresser, 


1 


a 


George Weiss, innkeeper, 


1 " 


Jacob Huber, shoemaker, 


1 


tt 


Jacob Weiss, tailor, 


1 " 


Barthol Hittal, innkeeper, 


1 


a 


Joseph Wartinton, tailor. 




Widow Krumback, innkeeper, 


1 


tt 


Conrad Worman, 200 acres of land. 


Phillip Klotz, shoemaker, 


1 


it 


Frederick Winsch, laborer. 





EAELY RESIDENTS. 267 



Casper Weaver, ferry and 80 acres of 


Geo. Ad. Blank. 


land. 


Jobn Reesomer. 


Conrad Zettel, 200 acres of land and one 


Jobn Gable. 


grist-mill. 


Bernhard Kline. 


Yost Dornblaeser, laborer. 


Dawall Young. 


Elizabeth Allen, 1 bouse. 


Jobn Moor. 


1510 acres of land. 


Casper Smith. 


Isaac Greenleaf, 200 acres of land. 


Rudolph Smith. 


Adam Turner, 90 acres of land. 


Samuel Greter. 




Jacob Knaus. 


SINGLE MEN. 


Jobn Smith. 


Jobn Widcler. 


59 houses 


Henry Heisser. 


102 cows. 


Jacob Fink. 


8 horses. 



In looking over the names of the early residents of Allentown, 
we find that of David Deshler, whose father, Adam Deshler, was 
among the first settlers at Egypta, in the upper part of North 
Whitehall Township, where he arrived about the year 1730. In 
1782, he owned four houses and lots in Allentown. Soon after he 
came here he purchased the mill property at the Little Lehigh 
Creek from Rothrock. During the Revolutionary War he became 
one of the most prominent persons in Northampton County. He 
acted as commissary of supplies for the army, and with John Arndt, 
Esq. (also a commissary, and his colleague) in 1780, when the 
treasury of the United States, as well as the State of Pennsylvania, 
had no funds, paid and advanced moneys out of his private means. 
This act in itself must endear his memory to every true American. 
In the petition of the 10th of October, 1763, his name appears as 
one of the defenders of the town at the time of the threatened mas- 
sacre by the Indians, and we may infer that he, as the wealthiest 
inhabitant of the place, had the only gun fit for service. (We are 
informed by the report of Colonel Burd to Governor Hamilton 
that there were but three in the town, and two of these not fit for 
service.) 

The Rinker family also for many years held an honorable posi- 
tion in the county ; the name of Abraham Rinker is mentioned as 
lieutenant of the gallant defenders in 1763 ; in 1753, Christian 
Rinker, probably the. father of Abraham, was elected one of the 



268 ALLENTOWN. 

county commissioners. Abraham "became a captain of a company 
during the Eevolutionary War, and he is frequently mentioned in 
the proceedings of that period in various capacities, sheriff of the 
county, &c. &c. 

Peter Ehodes is also mentioned. In 1763, his son Peter as well 
as the elder Peter wielded a great influence in the town and county. 
Peter Ehodes, Jr., for many years was one of the associate judges 
of Northampton County ; in 1777, '78, and '79, the elder Peter was 
a member of the legislature, and held other offices of distinction. 

The first church was erected in 1762, and was a union church 
of the Lutheran and German Eeformed persuasions. It appears 
from the following petition that a number of Catholics were also 
there in 1767; these, desirous of erecting a church, petitioned the 
governor for license to collect the necessary funds ; there is, how- 
ever, no account that the project had been carried out. 

The petition of the congregation of Roman Catholics of the town of Northampton, 
Sept. 25, 1767 (P. A., v. iv. p. 279), humbly sheweth :— 

That your petitioners are about to build a church for the worship of God in the 
town of Northampton, and have already provided materials for putting their design 
into execution. 

But they fear the inability of your petitioners is likely to render their good 
intentions fruitless, unless they are at liberty to ask assistance from charitable 
and piously disposed people. They therefore humbly entreat your honor to grant 
them a license for the said purpose, whereby they may have the peaceable and 
quiet enjoyment of their religion according to the laws of the province, and reap 
the benefit of those privileges granted them by your honor's benevolent ances- 
tors, &o. JOHN RITTER, 

J. GL ENAX, and others. 

The Catholic inhabitants of Allentown came there amongst the 
first settlers in 1763 and '64. There were only sixty-eight men 
and sixty-two women of German, and seventeen Irish Catholics in 
the whole county of Northampton in 1757. This was so reported 
by the priest, Theodore Snyder, in consequence of a requisition 
made in order to ascertain their numbers in Berks and Northamp- 
ton Counties ; this was rendered necessary in order to ascertain the 
correctness of very serious charges brought against them by many 
representations from the inhabitants of Eeading who state the dan- 
ger they were in from their machinations in their vicinity, charging 



MURDEKS BY THE INDIANS. 269 

them of meeting with. French officers and a large number of Indians, 
in order to concoct measures to murder all the white people, and 
that they had three hundred stand of arms concealed at their church 
in one of the lower townships of Berks County. 1 The defeat of 
General Braddock left the country open to the depredations of the 
Indians in 1754, and the Indian murders in 1755, '56 and '57 by the 
French Indians, the French being Catholics, those Catholics in 
these counties became suspected, and were persecuted by all other 
people. In 1763, there were murders committed in Whitehall 
Township by the Indians ; the following petition will show the 
action taken by the inhabitants of Allentown in this exigency. 
AYe copy it verbatim et literatim : — 

Northampton, the 10th of this instant, October, 1763 (P. A., v. iv. p. 124). 
To the Honourable James Hambletown, Esq., lientenant-governeur and commander- 
in-chief of the province of Pennsylvania, Newcassel Cent., and Sasox on Delawar, 
we send greeting: — 

As I, Joseph Roads, of Northampton Town, church minister, of this eighth instant 
October, as I was a-preaching, the people came in such numbers that I was oblidged 
to quit my sarman, and the same time Cornel James Bord was in the town, and I, 
the aforesaid minister, spoke with Cornel Bord, concerning this affarres of the 
Indians, and we found the Inhabitance that the had nithur Gons, Powder, nor 
Lead, to defend themselves, and tbat Cornel Bord had latly spoke with his honour. 
He had informed me that we would assist them with Gons and Ammunition, and 
he requested of me to write to your Honour, because he was just setting of for 
Lancester, and the the Inhabitance of the Town had not chose their officers at the 
time he set of. So we, the Inhabitance of the said Town hath unahimus chose 
George Wolf, the bearer hereof, to be the Captain, and Abraham Rinker to be the 
Lieutenant. 

We, whose names are under written promiss to obey to this mentioned Captin 
and Lietitennat, and so we hope will be so good and send us 50 Gons, 100 lb. Pow- 
der, and 400 lb. Lead, and 150 Stans for the Gons. 

These from your humble servant, remaining under the protection of our Lord 
Saviour Jesus Christ. JACOB ROTH, Minister. 

The names of the Gospel of this said Northampton Town — 

George Wolf Captin Jacob Wolf Martin Froelich 

Abraham Rinker Liet. Simon Lagundacker George Laur 

Phillip Koogler George Nicholas Daniel Nonnemacher 

Peter Miller David Deshler Peter Schab 



1 There was at this period a great prejudice against the Catholics or Papists. 
Some persons making provision for certain yearly payments to their widows in 
their wills, made the proviso that in case the widow marry a Catholic, such yearly 
stipend cease. A certain John Fricker made application to the Court of Quarter 
Sessions in 1775 for a license, and was refused "because he is a Catholic." 



270 ALLENTOWN". 

Frederick Schaechler John Martin Derr Abraham Savitz 

Leonhard Abel Peter Roth John Schreck 

Tobias Dittes Fraz Keffer George S. Schnepf 

Lorenz Hauk Jacob Mohr Michael Rothrock 
Simon Brenner 

The town had not increased much in buildings from 1765 to 
1782; not more than about fifteen houses had been added in near 
twenty years. In 1763 great exertions were made to remove the 
seat of justice of Northampton County from Easton to this town, 
and we may suppose that James Allen used every exertion to 
effect it, and probably would have succeeded, but as the town of 
Easton was the private property of Penn's, that superior interest 
prevented it. There can be no question but that the best argument 
lay with the people of Northamptontown and vicinity. Historians 
say but very little of Allentown in the olden time. A German 
traveller, named Schaepff, passed through it towards Beading in 
1784, yet does not even name it; thus also others. We must, 
therefore, conclude that its appearance did not possess sufficient 
interest to attract their attention. In the Bethlehem Souvenir we 
find an extract from a diary kept during the Eevolutionary "War; 
a letter from Edward Shippen, of 19th September, 1777, making 
distribution of sick and wounded soldiers, directs a part of them 
to be provided with quarters at Allentown, and we may infer that 
the new stone church, erected in 1772, was occupied for that pur- 
pose. Mr. Eupp, in his history of Lehigh County, quoting Mr. 
Wright, states that the bells of Christ's Church, of Philadelphia, 
were brought and concealed in the church when, in 1777, the 
British took possession of that city, and in the Bethlelmn Diary 
we find that the wagon conveying the bells broke down in the 
street of that place. In Bees's Encyclopedia of 1800, Allentown is 
said to contain about ninety houses. That improvements were 
making in and near the town is shown by the following petition 
for a bridge across the Jordan Creek; the petitioners apparently 
desired the bridge to be erected at Hamilton Street; this, in the 
following remonstrance, is strongly resisted ; the reasons given for 
this resistance, notwithstanding they were proper at that time, will, 



PETITION AGAINST ERECTING BRIDGE OVER JORDAN CREEK. 271 

to the present generation, be very interesting, particularly that 
part stating that the inhabitants, by having the bridge erected, 
" would entail upon themselves a burden of expenses so enormous 
and intolerable that they are entirely incapable of undergoing it." 
The effect of the remonstrance was that the bridge was erected 
further down the stream: — 

Petition presented to March Sessions, 1788, of Northampton County Court, respect- 
ing a bridge over Jordan Creek, at the town of Allentown, in said County, &c. 

Your petitioners find themselves greatly aggrieved by a grant of a petition pre- 
ferred by sundry inhabitants of Salisbury Township aforesaid, for the laying out a 
road from the town of Northampton to the ferry over the Lehigh, and erecting a 
bridge over Jordan Creek, which petition was signed, and the prayer thereof 
granted, in so short a time that the subscribers could not possibly state their ob- 
jections against it. 

That your petitioners now beg leave to lay before your worships the reasons why 
they conceive that the said road and bridge, if laid out and erected on the place 
proposed, is a great grievance to the township of Salisbury, viz : — 

That the road to be laid out from the church to the place where the bridge is to 
be built will cost a great sum in making it passable, on account of the steepness 
of the hill ; that the annual repairs of the same will create great expense ; and 
that on account of the clay soil, it will be next to impossible to keep the said road 
passable for many seasons. 

That on account of the steepness of the bank of the Jordan on the town side, 
among other inconveniences, it will be impossible for any cattle to come to the 
water in any season of the year. 

That if the said bridge be erected at the place proposed of the length of eighty 
feet, according to contract, it will be necessary that a bridge dyke or dam be erected 
from the end of the said bridge to the rising ground twenty-five or thirty rods 
long, over so much low meadow ground, which will create an expense to the town- 
ship of many hundred pounds, besides the unavoidable annual costly repairs, and 
the costs of making and repairing a new road from thence to the ferry, the raising 
of which enormous sums, and the prospect of the unavoidable yearly repairs, 
would be an intolerable burthen for the township, without any the least benefit, 
especially in the present times, when the inhabitants, with their utmost endeav- 
ors, find it hardly possible to pay their regular taxes. Whereas, if the road would 
remain where it now is, and the intended bridge be built where the road now 
crosses the creek, all those enormous expenses in making the new road, and 
twenty-five or thirty rods bridge or dam, besides the certain annual expenses for 
repairs, would be prevented, and the new bridge, if erected in the old road, would 
cost fifty pounds less than it is possible on the place proposed. 

That further, if the bridge is to be built on the place proposed, and any repair is 
to be made thereon, or on the bridge over the low ground (which will most cer- 
tainly happen after every high water), the whole passage will be stopped entirely, 
as it will be impossible to ford the Jordan in that place even when the water is 
lowest, on account of the steepness of one of the banks. 

That the estate of Mrs. Elizabeth Alleu, through which this new road is to be 



272 ALLENTOWN. 

laid out principally, will suffer greatly, and the value thereof be lessened by five 
hundred pounds, without any advantage to others. 

Your petitioners, therefore, humbly pray your -worships to take the above into 
your serious consideration, and alter the said grant for the said new road and 
bridge, that the same may not be laid out and erected on the place proposed, and 
to order the bridge to be built where the road at present crosses the Jordan, which 
will release the township of Salisbury from an enormous expense, a burden so 
intolerable that they are entirely incapable to undergo it. 
Your petitioners, &c. &c. 

DAVID DESHLER, ADAM DESHLER, 

GEORGE PLANK, JNO. KNAUP, 

and about fifty other signers. 

Allentown is situated upon high ground, commanding an exten- 
sive view of the surrounding country, the scenery of which is 
delightfully variegated, the soil fertile and highly cultivated, and 
studded with numerous fine buildings and other improvements. 
Notwithstanding that the town was laid out very nearly a century 
ago, it has the appearance of a modern place, having lost nearly 
every trace of antiquity; there being very few buildings that 
appear to date their erection previous to the commencement of the 
nineteenth century. The business part of the borough is in Ham- 
ilton Street, which exhibits a continuous street of stores of brick, 
three and four stories in height, of modern style of construction. 
The town has many attractions and advantages that will speed its 
onward course, and it may safely be predicted that in the course 
of a very few years it will eclipse most of the towns in the Lehigh 
valley in business, as it at present does in appearance. In connec- 
tion with this remark, we must mention that the inhabitants are, 
with a few solitary exceptions, of German extraction, and born in 
the county. This circumstance, in viewing the tastefully deco- 
rated buildings, seems not to be in accordance with the character- 
istic taste of Germans, as displayed in the erection of their habita- 
tions, inasmuch as the ornamental was, and in most instances is 
still, discarded or overlooked. 

The town for many years did not progress very rapidly, which 
may be attributed, in a great measure, to the influence of some of 
the neighboring towns, and the difficulty (from its elevation) of 
procuring the necessary supply of water for domestic purposes. 











.ES'Dwai^S'ouPM 1 



Igk Valley Rail Roads 




Anbrctyoe of HP '.:■ 

'AIL EM Ti-W M . if a. 

.Situated on the Lehigh. River at the junction of the East Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley 



DISASTROUS FIRE OF 1848. 273 

In 1828, the latter difficulty was overcome by the erection of a 
waterworks, from which time the town slowly but steadily pro- 
gressed until 1843, when the business of the place and surrounding 
country was considerably prostrated by the failure of the North- 
ampton Bank, which was established there in 1814, and in which 
the most implicit confidence was placed by the community. 
Scarcely had the town recovered from the effects of the misman- 
agement of this institution, ere it was visited by a most disastrous 
conflagration, which, in some respects, was another check to the 
prosperity of the place. 

The Allentown Democrat of June 10, 1848, thus describes it: — 

" We hasten to announce to our readers the painful intelligence of the most 
disastrous fire that has ever occurred in our borough. That beautiful square, 
commencing at the market-house, and extending up to Hagenbuch's tavern on 
Hamilton Street, taking in both sides of the street, and ranging far enough down 
to include all the back buildings on either side, which yesterday morning pre- 
sented so fine a business aspect, now lies in ruins, presenting to the eye an un- 
sightly mass of smouldering ashes and blackened walls. How the fire originated 
is yet a mystery. One story is that some boys were playing in a barn with 
matches ; another, that the fire is supposed to have been lighted by the hand of 
an incendiary ; the latter, however, is highly improbable, and scarcely entitled to 
any credence whatever. ******* The whole number of buildings 
destroyed is about eighty ; dwellings and stores, tbirty-five. The aggregate amount 
of loss has been very little, if any, less than $200,000, about $40,000 only of which 
is covered by insurance. Truly such a calamity has rarely befallen any commu- 
nity ; it has struck a blow at the prosperity and happiness of Allentown (and 
especially to the immediate sufferers), which calls loudly for the exercise of the 
spirit of benevolence on the part of other towns and cities, which alone can alle- 
viate distress, and wipe the trace of sorrow from tbe brow of the prostrate suf- 
ferers." 

Although the fire was the cause of considerable loss to indi- 
viduals, and a temporary derangement to business, yet from that 
time may be dated an increase of business in Allentown. Where 
before stood rows of frame dwellings, and low dingy stores, were 
erected splendid and substantial brick stores and private resi- 
dences ; so large a number of buildings erected at the same time 
gave steady employment to the mechanics and laborers of the 
town and neighborhood, and also attracted many from other places, 
who afterwards settled there permanently, thereby augmenting the 
number of inhabitants. The completion of the Lehigh "Valley and 
19 



274 ALLENTOWN. 

East Pennsylvania Eailroads also gave an impetus to building and 
manufactures. 

The population of Allentown in 1830 was 1,554; in 1840, 2,493 ; 
in 1850, 3,703 ; and 619 houses. By a census taken of the borough 
by the local authorities in 1854, it is shown to have contained in 
that year 5,250 inhabitants and 970 houses. The present popula- 
tion is estimated at 10,000. In 1850 the number of families was 
716; in 1854, 1,042, which showed a very rapid increase for those 
few years. The increase of population for the ten years succeeding 
1840 was but 1291, and for the last nine years nearly 6,000 — thus 
showing that the town has increased to near three times its size in 
1850, and almost doubled its number of inhabitants during the 
last five years. The Allentown Democrat, speaking of the many 
improvements, says : — 

"There have been so many changes, physically and socially, in 
Allentown, as a town, within a few years past, that a former resi- 
dent, who returns to it after a short absence, can scarcely recognize 
the place or its people. Quite recently one of this class remarked 
to us : 'I came here to spend some time amid the scenery and 
acquaintances of former days, but I am hardly able to discover a 
vestige of that scenery, or to find an acquaintance once in an hour. 
Everything has changed.' And that man had been absent but 
about seven years. By the census of 1850, the population of 
Allentown was 3,780, showing an increase during the previous ten 
years of 1,291. Now our population is estimated at 10,000, and 
the original borough plat has increased in area east and west, at 
least a quarter of a mile. The face of the original borough plat 
has been improved too, so that our whilom resident might well 
say, ' everything has changed.' In building operations we have 
progressed remarkably — in 1855, 108 buildings were erected ; in 
1856, 138 ; in 1857, 169 ; in 1858, 52, making a total of 467 build- 
ings in four years. Handsome three and four story brick and iron 
front edifices cover the site of many an old weather-board shell of 
his day ; stores of a hundred feet in depth have succeeded the pent- 
up dingy shops his eyes were accustomed to look upon ; and the 



EECENT IMPROVEMENTS. 275 

din of busy life prevails everywhere in lieu of the sweet calm then 
so grateful to him in taking his after-dinner nap. If he should go 
to where he considered himself 'in the country,' planing-mills, 
grist-mills, saw-mills, machine shops, foundries and furnaces, depots, 
with long trains of cars stretching either way, and dwellings innu- 
merable would greet his eyes, and the noise of railway trains astir 
his ears. At the dawn of the year 1855, Allentown had no railroad 
outlet, now it has two — the Lehigh Valley Eailroad connecting us 
with the principal commercial emporiums of the Union, while the 
East Pennsylvania road links us with the far West and South by 
the shortest route in existence. Besides these, we have the Allen- 
town and Auburn road in process of construction. Stage-coaches 
are almost among the things past — a few months more will put 
them entirely so. Instead of consuming twelve and fifteen hours 
in travelling to Philadelphia, we now go there, spend about three 
hours, and return to our homes, all between the rising and setting 
of the sun. We might note many other changes physically, but 
space forbids. The changes socially during this time were none 
the less striking. But notwithstanding all the differences betwixt 
then and now, the work of change has only fairly commenced, it 
is progressing at present as fast as ever. In spite of the financial 
depression that raged over the country of late, between 75 and 100 
buildings will be completed during the summer (1859), new resi- 
dents are added constantly to the population, new branches of 
trade are opening, and former ones enlarging." 

The town at the present time presents a beautiful and substan- 
tial appearance ; the streets are laid out at right angles, and in the 
centre of the town (at the intersection of Hamilton and Seventh 
Streets) is a fine large square, in which are located the bank, 
several hotels, and other public buildings. The town is well 
lighted with gas, and supplied with the coolest of spring water 
from a spring in the valley south of the hill on which the town 
stands. The streets are broad and clean, lined with rows of 
beautiful shade trees ; on the whole, the town presents an appear- 
ance of solid comfort and elegance rarely to be met with in a 



276 ALLENTOWN. 

country town. There is hardly a plain or unsightly building in 
the place, it presents a freshness which but few of our old Penn- 
sylvania towns can boast of. 

One of the first things noticed by strangers passing through the 
town are the large and beautiful gardens which surround almost 
every house. Nearly all of these gardens are laid out with great 
taste, and in some instances great liberality is displayed in the 
culture of flowers, shrubbery, and fruit-trees. Within the last 
few years a large number of handsome private residences have 
been erected in the more retired parts of the town, and the liberality 
and good taste displayed in the ornamentation of the buildings 
and surrounding grounds would do credit to the more wealthy 
citizens of larger cities. 

The scenery and natural curiosities at and near Allentown are 
well worth seeing ; here the Lehigh Eiver assumes a most beautiful 
appearance; the banks on both sides are studded with stately trees, 
the foliage bending to the water's edge, while the stream, divided 
by an island of about seventy acres, is as smooth and clear as a 
sheet of glass. On the one side of the river we have the Mauch 
Chunk Company's canal, the canal boats with their faithful tug- 
ging horses, and sunburnt crews lazily moving along ; on the other, 
the Lehigh Yalley Eailroad, over which are seen passing almost 
endless processions of black coal trains. As they round the pro- 
jecting South Mountain and the intervening valley of the Little 
Lehigh Creek a great rumbling noise is heard amid the shrill 
whistles of the locomotive, while as far as the eye can reach up 
that creek, glorious nature spreads out in rich waving harvest 
fields and rolling elevations. Here and there we see a cluster of 
houses and barns nestled among the luxuriant scenes. Up the 
Lehigh Eiver we see the Allentown Lehigh bridge, and near it the 
dam across the river ; the basin formed by the dam encircled with 
numerous storehouses, and in the distance the Allentown Iron 
Company's furnaces belching forth fire and smoke. 

Numerous and interesting as the natural curiosities in this 
neighborhood are, there is none that so amply repays the visitor 



BEAUTIFUL SCENERY. 277 

as the " Big, or Mammoth Eock," or, as sometimes called, " Bower's 
Eock," on the South Mountain. It is about three miles southeast 
from Allentown. " The Eock" is easily ascended, though elevated 
about 1200 feet above the surrounding country. The spectator, 
while standing on this eminence, has a commanding view of one 
of the most variegated scenes imaginable. As far as the eye can 
reach, except on the north, where the vision is bounded by the 
Blue Moutain, are spread before the eye well cultivated farms, 
dotted with buildings, while this part of the view is greatly en- 
livened by the Lehigh Eiver as it winds its way down the Kitta- 
tinny valley. The canal, with its waters burthened with number- 
less boats, the Lehigh Valley Eailroad, with the serpentine trains 
of coal cars and smoking locomotives, are plainly discernible, 
together with the various furnaces along the shores of the river. 
On the south, east, and west, lie before you as a lawn, " Saucon," 
with its rich limestone farms. Language fails to delineate the 
scenery with any degree of graphic accuracy. 

There are several beautiful springs near Allentown, which are 
justly admired by all who have seen them. The most interesting 
of these are Worman's, from which the town receives its supply of 
water, and Helfrich's springs and cave, about two miles north of 
the town. These springs are annually visited by strangers, espe- 
cially the latter, which is one of the most romantic spots in the 
county. The cave is supposed to be of great extent, although no 
person is known to have entered it further than a fewjiundred feet 
from its entrance. 

Cedar Creek, which empties into the Little Lehigh near Allen- 
town, is one of the loveliest streams in the State, clear as crystal, 
always full, never overflowing, it winds for two miles (turning in 
its course some four or five mills) through a meadow that is a per- 
fect picture. The Little Lehigh Creek, which is the southern bound- 
ary of the town, empties into the Lehigh Eiver. It is crossed at 
the town by two stone bridges ; a large number of mills are 
located upon it. The Jordan Creek passes through the meadows 
in the eastern part of the town, and is crossed by three stone arch 



278 ALLENTOWN". 

bridges, one of them, we have already referred to, was built in 
1787, and rebuilt in 1851. The largest of the three, situated at the 
foot of Hamilton Street, is the most extensive structure of its kind 
in Pennsylvania. It consists of nineteen stone arches, is about 
1500 feet long, and 50 feet high, built entirely of stone, and was 
erected by the county, in 1837, at a cost of about $20,000. 

The Lehigh River is crossed at Allentown by two wooden bridges 
of three spans each. The one is situated near the Allentown Iron 
"Works, and was erected in 1858 by a company incorporated as the 
Hanover and South Whitehall Bridge Company ; the other is at 
the foot of Hamilton Street, and was erected in 1841, after the 
great freshet, by the Allentown Bridge Company. 

Soon after the laying out of the public road between Easton and Reading in 
1754, a ferry was established at this place. Abraham Rinker, until 1776, was the 
first ferryman ; but, upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, he raised a 
company, and attached himself to Washington's army. Casper Weaver became 
his successor at the ferry, and until the taking possession of this post by John 
Kletor, about 1795, retained it. The latter remained until the building of the 
bridge in 1812. An effort had been made in 1797 to ereet a bridge, for which pur- 
pose an act of incorporation was passed on 31st March of that year ; but the enter- 
prise failed for want of funds ; and it is doubtful whether the bridge would have 
been erected in 1812 if it had not been through the exertions of James Jameson, 
an enterprising citizen of Allentown. The old charter having expired, a new one 
was granted on the 2d of March, 1812. A chain bridge was then erected at a cost 
of $15,000, which stood until April 13, 1828, when it was set on fire and burnt 
down. Another bridge which was subsequently erected was swept away by the 
high freshet of January 8, 1841. 

Allentown is well provided with schools, it having no less than 
two first class academies, and eighteen public or free schools. 

The Allentown Academy, which is the oldest, was originally incor- 
porated on the 18th of March, 1811, and a sum of money appro- 
priated by the State for the erection of suitable buildings, to be 
paid when the private subscriptions should amount to $1000. A 
lot was procured on the N. W. corner of Eighth and Walnut 
Streets, and a plain and substantial building erected thereon, which 
was occupied as a high school or academy, as originally constructed, 
until the selection of the present principal. 

The persons who from time to time presided over the Academy 
since its erection were S. H. Hickock, W. W. Wurtz, Chas. A. 



SEMINARIES. 281 

Douglass, F. A. Mancourt, Rev. McClenachen, Rev. Huffert, Eobt. 
N. Chandler, and the present incumbent, I. 1ST. Gregory. Under 
his care, it has grown to be one of the best schools in the State. 
The buildings have been much enlarged, and are fitted up with 
most of the modern educational improvements. The institution is 
managed by a Board of Trustees, who are elected by the people of 
Lehigh County. It is now in a most prosperous condition, at- 
tended by about 150 scholars, who are taught, by seven teachers, 
in all the branches of a thorough English education, as well as the 
elements of mathematics, Latin, Greek, music, drawing, &c. &c. 

The Allentown Seminary, a boarding and day school, was erected 
a few years ago by Messrs. Pretz and Weinsheimer, two enterpris- 
ing merchants of Allentown. It occupies a commanding position 
on the east of the town, about an eighth of a mile above the con- 
fluence of the Jordan Creek and Little Lehigh. The grounds sur- 
rounding the building is the last remnant of the great manor of 
Justice Allen. " Trout Hall," the only remaining relic of the olden 
time, is still standing upon these grounds, and is used as a kitchen 
for the seminary. (See cut.) 

The school edifice stands in the midst of a space of some four 
acres, devoted to its exclusive use, but with the open country 
around it to the east and south. In front is a fine lawn, adorned 
with trees and shrubbery, and in the rear a large campus or play- 
ground, fitted up with a great variety of gymnastic fixtures, together 
with the gardens, etc., for the use of the establishment. The house 
has a front of about one hundred and thirty feet, with a depth of forty 
feet, the centre being four stories in front and five in the rear ; the 
wings three stories high. On the first floor, a large school-room 
occupies the centre of the building, with class-rooms and rooms for 
teachers conveniently arranged on both sides of it. The second 
floor is used for similar purposes, supplying also study -rooms for 
the pupils who board in the Institution. The third and fourth 
stories are used for chambers and dormitories, which are large and 
well ventilated apartments. The whole house is lighted with gas, 



282 ALLENTOWN. 

well supplied with excellent water, and the school and study-rooms 
are warmed by the most improved furnaces. 

The school-rooms are furnished with fixtures, desks and maps of 
the most recent construction ; and a fine cabinet of minerals and a 
good school library (which now contains over two hundred volumes) 
are receiving constant additions. 

The course of study embraces all the branches of a thorough 
English education, the elements of mathematics and natural phi- 
losophy, Latin, Greek and modern languages, vocal and instru- 
mental music, and drawing. The present principal, Rev. William 
R. Hofford, is ably assisted by four male and three female teachers. 
The school is well patronized by the residents of the place and 
strangers. The number of scholars at present is one hundred and 
twenty-seven males and forty females. 

The public or free schools of Allentown are ably conducted 
under the supervision of the county superintendent ; the number 
of these schools at the present time is twenty-one, in which are 
taught some six hundred and forty-five male and six hundred and 
twenty-five female scholars, the number of teachers twenty-one. 
The accommodation for the schools consists of five large and sub- 
stantial brick buildings, which were erected at a cost of near 
$25,000. Two of the above buildings were erected some years 
ago, and intended for the Homoeopathic College. This institution 
never went into full operation as it was designed it should under 
several eminent professors residing in Philadelphia. 

Allentown at the present time contains nine churches, viz : — 

German Reformed, cor. Hamilton and Church Alley. Rev'ds J. S. Dubs, J. H. 
Derr, Pastors. 

St. Paul's Lutheran (German), Eighth between Hamilton and Walnut. Rev. J. 
Mennig, Pastor. 

St. John's Lutheran (English), Fifth below Hamilton. Rev. B. M. Schmucker, 
Pastor. 

Presbyterian, Fifth above Hamilton Street. Rev. B. Juakin, Jr., Pastor. 

Methodist Episcopal, Linden Street, between Fifth and Sixth. Rev. F. D. Egan, 
Pastor. 

German Methodist, Linden above Ninth. C. Meyer, Pastor. 

Baptist, Hamilton below Seventh. Rev. J. L. Sagebeer, Pastor. 

Episcopal, Fifth and Hamilton. Rev. A. Prior, Pastor. 

Catholic, Second Street. Rev. C. J. Schrader, Priest. 



FAIR GROUNDS. 283 

The majority of these churches have been but recently built, and 
are handsome and costly structures. Most of the churches have 
burial grounds attached to them; of late, however, most of the in- 
terments are made in the "Allentown" and "Union Cemeteries," 
which are beautifully located near the town. 

The Lehigh County Agricultural Fair was the first of its kind 
established in the Lehigh Yalley; it was organized in 1852. The 
first fair was held in October of that year, and continued for two 
days; it was successful beyond the hopes of its warmest friends. 

The fair was held on the property of Messrs. Pretz & Co., in Alleu- 
town, where some three or four acres of ground were surrounded 
by canvas, purchased and presented to the society by the citizens 
of Allentown. The articles exhibited were so numerous, and the 
crowd of visitors so large, that the managers were induced to make 
the institution a permanent one. They accordingly purchased the 
ground now owned by the society on the western border of Allen- 
town, and commenced preparing for the second exhibition on the 
most liberal scale. The site is on the most elevated spot near 
Allentown, overlooking the whole town and the magnificent pano- 
rama of hills and vales which surround it. The space includes 
eleven full acres, perfectly even, with a light inclination towards 
the south, and is surrounded by a close fence eight feet high. The 
main entrance is on the southwest corner opposite the northern 
terminus of Sixth Street, at which point there is erected a beautiful 
Swiss cottage, occupied by the person who has charge of the 
grounds, and used during the fair as a ticket office. Passing 
through the spacious gateway the eye is at once arrested by the 
main exhibition hall, a stately building, the original size of which 
was one hundred feet long by fifty wide. During the present season 
two w T ings have been added to it, which has increased its width to 
one hundred feet; the building is two stories high, surmounted by 
a splendid gallery, or observatory. The appearance of this build- 
ing, covered as it is during the exhibition, with flags and streamers, 
and the observatory filled with spectators, is exceedingly beautiful. 
The trotting circle, occupying the northern half of the inciosure, is 



284: ALLENTOWN. 

one thousand nine hundred feet in circumference and fifty feet 
wide, inclosed on both sides by a substantial fence. The poultry 
houses, horse stables, and cattle stalls, are quite extensive, and 
have been built with an eye to comfort. The grounds on the 
southern side of the inclosure and around the centre building have 
been laid out most beautifully in walks and circles, along which 
several hundred choice shade trees have been planted, which, when 
fully grown, will make this a delightful promenade. Directly in 
front of this building there is a space left for a fountain, which, in 
all probability, will be finished by the next exhibition. 

The buildings were erected in 1852, which, together with the 
land, cost about $15,000. The additions to the main building and 
other improvements have cost during the present year near $3,000. 

The society was incorporated in 1855. 

The present officers are George Beisel, President; Joshua Stabler, 
Secretary ; A. G. Eeninger, Treasurer. 

Allentown is supplied with some of the purest spring water in 
the State ; Worman's spring, where the waterworks are located, 
and from which the town derives its supply, is situated about one 
mile from Allentown, and is said to be inexhaustible. The water 
is as clear as crystal and delightfully cool throughout the summer. 
The works consist of two water-wheels and two pumps, propelled 
by the water issuing from the spring; it is forced to the height of 
one hundred and sixty feet into a reservoir in the highest part of 
the town, from which it is distributed by about five miles of main 
pipe through the different streets. 

The company was originally incorporated in 1816, as the North- 
ampton Water Company, but was not organized until 1827 — the 
property of the company in 1833 was valued at $18,000. The 
company at the present time own the "spring property," consisting 
of twenty-five acres of land, on which are located the waterworks 
and two flouring mills ; these, in connection with the other im- 
provements, are valued at $100,000. The company is now known 
as the Allentown "Water Company. Joseph Weaver, President; 
Jesse M. Line, Secretary; Ephraim Grim, Treasurer. 



GASWORKS, NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 285 

Allentown is liberally supplied with an excellent quality of gas, 
by the Allen Gas Company. The works were originally a private 
enterprise, and were the first in the Lehigh Valley. In 1849, Dr. 
"W. F. Danowsky, an enterprising citizen of the town, erected suit- 
able buildings for the manufacture of gas, and supplied it to a 
large number of the stores and dwellings. In 1852 he made 
several additions to his works, which greatly increased the facili- 
ties for manufacturing, and enabled him to supply quite a number 
of dwellings in the neighboring towns, which he did by means of 
a huge India-rubber bag or tank, placed on a wagon, which was 
filled at the works and carted to the doors of his customers, where, 
by means of a hose, the smaller tanks in the cellars of the con- 
sumers were filled. In 1853 he obtained an act of incorporation, 
but did not work under the charter. Since 1858 the works have 
been owned by N. Loudenslager, Wm. H. Blumer, Jesse M. Line, 
and Wm. Kern, who are working under the charter, and are known 
as the Allen Gas Co. ; capital $40,000, with privilege of increasing 
to $60,000. The present extensive works were erected in 1853, 
and now supply upwards of 300 private consumers and 30 public 
lamps. 

There are at the present time six weekly and four semi-monthly 
papers published in Allentown, viz : — 

Friedens Bote (German), Blumer, Leisinring & Co., Editors. 

Allentown Democrat (English), C. F. Haines, 

Lehigh Register " Huber & Oliver, 

Unabhaengige Republikana ) Trexler, Harlacher & 

Weltbote (German), ) Weiser, 

Jugend Freund " "| 

Missions Blaeat " > R ev. S. K. Probst, 

Lutherische Zeitschrift " J 

Lecha Patriot, Keck, Guth & Helfrich, 

Allentonian, (New publication.) 

There is but one bank in Allentown, which is situated on the 
north side of the public square. The building is exceedingly neat 
and well arranged. This institution was chartered March 1, 1855, 
and commenced operations August 27th of the same year. Capital 
$200,000— of which $160,000 have been paid in. The Allentown 



286 ALLENTOWN. 

Bank since its commencement has been faithfully conducted, and 
has always maintained a high degree of credit. The officers are 
Jacob Dillinger, President; C. W. Cooper, Cashier. 

Although the greater part of the time is devoted by the citizens 
of Allentown to their various business pursuits and callings, they 
still find time for recreation and amusement. The Allentown Band, 
of which Amos Ettinger is leader, is considered one of the best 
bands in the State, and is composed entirely of the business men 
of the place. The Jordan Band, a new organization under the 
leadership of E. H. Menninger, are making rapid progress, and 
promises to be no mean rival of the first named. 

Allentown has also several military companies, which will com- 
pare favorably with any in the State, viz : — 

Allen Rifles, T. H. Good, Captain. 

Jordan Artillerists, W. H. Gausler, 

Allen Infantrj, Thos. Yeager, " 

The fire department of the place consists of four companies, 
viz : — 



Columbia Engine Co. 


No. 


1. 


Young America " 


No. 


2. 


Good Will " 


No. 


3. 


Allentown Hook and Ladder Co. 


No. 


1. 



These companies are well disciplined, and have ever proved 
themselves ready and willing on all occasions when called upon, to 
give their efficient aid in saving property from the ravages of fire. 
The companies have each a meeting-room, handsomely furnished, 
provided with excellent libraries, and files of the New York and 
Philadelphia daily papers, besides a variety of weekly papers and 
periodicals, including the papers of the borough and surrounding 
towns. A large bell, for the purpose of giving the fire alarm, is 
placed in the fine cupola on the Town Hall. 

The business of a town depends greatly upon the enterprise of 
its citizens. Location and surroundings may, somewhat, shape the 
character of its trade, but an active population always beget 
sources of wealth. The citizens of Allentown appear to have 
acted upon these principles. Hence the manufacturing interest 



MANUFACTORIES. 287 

within the last few years has been largely developed. The num- 
ber of manufactories at this time is 57, and are as follows: — 

Seven agricultural implement manufactories. Welcome B. Powell ; T. S. 
Sweitzer ; Brader & Young ; Jesse Bitting ; Newhard & Rhoads ; Jonas W. Koch ; 
M. H. Beitler. 

Two foundry and machine shops. Thayer, Eardman, Wilson & Co. ; Barber, 
Sherer & Co. 

One iron railing manufactory. Chas. Denhard. 

One planing-mill (steam). Pretz, Gausler & Co. 

One fire brick manufactory. Ritter & M'Hose. 

One paint manufactory. Breinig & Bro. 

Five carriage manufactories. T. Stattler ; P. H. Lehr ; R. D. Kramer ; Snyder 
& Hendricks ; R. Englenian. 

One railroad spike factory. Wilson & Co. 

One axle factory and forge. Shimer, Kessler & Co. 

One file factory. Stalter, Gruele & Co. 

One piano manufactory. S. Sweitzer. 

Two shoe manufactories. George Lucas & Son ; Young & Leh. 

One woollen manufactory. Gabriel & Weil. 

Three coverlid -manufactories. Chas. Weiand ; W. F. Christman ; Weiand & 
Brother. 

Two stocking manufactories. Enoch Newhard ; P. Stork. 

Two last manufactories ; F. S. Wilt ; P. Baum. 

One gun factory. J. & W. H. Moll. 

One steam saw-mill. Hoffman & Bro. 

One grist-mill. Robt. Dubs. 

Four merchant mills. Mickly, Weaver & Co. ; Pretz, Eckert & Co. ; Roth, 
Mickly & Co. ; Keck, Leager & Co. 

Two distilleries. Thomas Yeager ; Edmund Schreiber. 

Four breweries. Wm. Oberle ; Kern & Meyer ; Richard Deily ; Daniel Weiss. 

Four iron furnaces. Allentown Iron Co. 

Eight brick yards. 

Rolling mill. Haywood & Co. (Now constructing.) 

The works of the Allentown Iron Co., situated here, consist of 
four furnaces, the size of which, and the time of erection, are as 
follows : — 





Erected. 


High. 


Boshes. 


Tunnel head. 


No. 1. 


1846. 


40 ft. 


12 ft. 


5 ft. 


" 2. 


1847. 


40 " 


12 " 


5 " 


" 3. 


1852. 


45 " 


16 " 


5 " 


" 4. 


1855. 


50 « 


16 " 


5 " 



The first two furnaces were erected under the superintendence 
of Mr. Benj. Perry. These works produce some 20,000 tons of 
pig iron per annum. They are blown by steam power, and the 
ore used is the hematite mined in the neighborhood, with a portion 



288 ALLENTOWN. 

of the magnetic of New Jersey. Mr. Samuel Lewis, the present 
manager, has made quite a number of improvements and additions 
which now make the furnaces among the most extensive and com- 
plete in the country. The furnaces are situated near the track of 
the Lehigh Yalley Railroad, from which a sidling is run upon 
tressling, erected for the purpose of running the cars close to the 
hoisting apparatus, and there unloading the iron ore, coal, &c. &c. 
The company have recently procured a locomotive for the purpose 
of conveying material from different parts of the grounds to the 
furnace. The residence of the superintendent is quite spacious, 
and its neat and cheerful aspect commands admiration. It is sur- 
rounded by trees of various species, and the grounds are laid out 
with a degree of taste quite commendable. Its lofty position 
affords a commanding view both up and down the river. 

Most of the manufacturing establishments in Allentown are 
quite extensive, and are doing a flourishing and remunerative 
business. It was our intention to have given a full description of 
each of these establishments ; but as there appeared to be an 
unwillingness, with one or two exceptions, of the proprietors to 
furnish us with particulars, we have been unable to do as we 
originally intended. Allentown has many advantages as a manu- 
facturing town, situated in the midst of a rich agricultural district, 
and surrounded by rich beds of irou ore, zinc, limestone, cement, 
&c. &c, it is destined at no distant day to become the centre of the 
manufacturing interests of the Lehigh Valley. On both sides of 
the Lehigh Valley Eailroad, along the whole borough front, the 
land is level, and well calculated for the erection of extensive 
manufactories. The railroads and canals diverging in every direc- 
tion afford facilities to the manufacturer to transport his wares to 
either of the large seaboard cities or the great west. Beside the 
Lehigh Valley Eailroad and Lehigh Canal, which pass by the 
place, Allentown is the eastern terminus of the East Pennsylvania 
Eailroad from Eeading ; this road was completed the early part of 
the present year, and is the last connecting link between New York 
and Harrisburg, Pa., where a connection will be made with the 





us/-~/Wsu*J 




^J^Uct **&prtx/ 




Superintendent Allentown Iron Works. 



INTERESTING LETTER. 289 

Pennsylvania Central Railroad, which will make the shortest and 
most expeditious route from New York to the Great West. The 
road is 36 miles long from Allentown to Reading, and passes through 
a beautiful and fertile valley, studded with substantial farm-houses, 
from which is spread out in all directions like a variegated carpet 
broad acres of well-cultivated land, whose only limit is the distant 
mountain ranges which encircle the landscape. Allentown will 
also be the terminus of the Allentown and Auburn Railroad, now 
being constructed between Allentown and Auburn, on the Dauphin 
and Susquehanna Railroad. Some $350,000 have already been 
expended on this road, but the many heavy cuts and a tunnel 2000 
feet in length through the Blue Mountain will retard the operations 
of this line, and the probabilities are that several years will elapse 
before the Schuylkill and Lehigh Valleys will be united by this 
route. We will close our description of Allentown with the fol- 
lowing interesting letter : — 

"There are few to. ^e State that can vie with Allentown in beauty of 

situation and loveliness of surrounding scenery. In one of the most fertile regions 
of the State, it not only enjoys a landscape of rich and quiet beauty, but has a 
mountain and river scenery of the boldest and most picturesque kind. It is near 
the head of the great valley, tl very garden of the United States, east of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains, which stretches from the Delaware near Easton, down to the 
northern part of North Carolina, now called (in Pennsylvania) the Cumberland 
valley, and further south the Great Valley of Virginia ; but properly designated 
as the Kittatinny Valley. The western boundary of this magnificent valley is here 
called the Blue Mountain, which stretches in a waving chain of the purest azure 
from northeast to southwest, some twelve or fourteen miles from Allentown, which 
is almost encircled by what is here called the Lehigh Hills, but further south the 
South Mountain, and which form the eastern terminus of the valley. 

" Allentown occupies a sort of lofty promontory, running down to the Lehigh 
River and Jordan Creek on the east, and spreading out in the rear to the west into 
that magnificent landscape of alternating plains and rolling hills by which the 
great valley is characterized. In front is the Lehigh River, which, running from 
the northeast, is met about a half mile below the town by the Lehigh Hills, which 
cause it to turn abruptly to the east, where it breaks through the other line of 
hills, at whose base it had so long pursued its headlong course. 

" Nothing can be more picturesque than the scenes upon which the eye here 
reposes ; on one side mountain-like hills, cultivated to their very summits, waving 
with a sea of wheat, or green with pastures, and the still richer foliage of Indian 
corn ; in front, an island of some sixty acres, like an emerald, encircled by the 
shining waters of the Lehigh, which here receives the tribute of its younger sister, 
which has just been swelled by the darker waters of the Jordan, both streams 
spanned by beautiful bridges, beyond which they seem to melt away into a silvery 

20 



290 ALLENTOWN. 

lake ; and above all rise the green mountains, the Lehigh Hills, whose tops seem 
to be covered by their primeval forests, whilst here and there a farm straggles up 
their sides, and the white roof of a dwelling every now and then peeps out from 
the embowering foliage, which might otherwise seem an unbroken solitude. 

"Allentown was laid out by William Allen, chief justice of the province of 
Pennsylvania, some time before the Revolutionary War. He was a very intimate 
friend of the Penn family (Governor John Penn married one of his daughters), and 
here obtained large grants of land. On one of these he built a hunting lodge, 
which he called ' Trout Hall,' from the abundance of that favorite of all the dis- 
ciples of Izaak Walton ; one of the silver-like streams which here enter the Little 
Lehigh, being likewise called Trout Creek. This old hunting lodge is still stand- 
ing, being a massive stone cottage, which may stand for centuries. The chief- 
justice could not well have selected a lovelier spot for his summer retreat ; and 
here, during the stormy times of the Revolution, he was glad to hide himself, 
barely escaping the confiscation of his large estates, as he was strongly suspected 
of Tory principles, and warmer affection for the government of George III. than 
that of the new republic. Still his property passed quietly into the hands of his 
son James Allen, who built a very fine mansion just alongside of the old Trout 
Hall, or hunting lodge. In the general division of James Allen's estate, this fine 
mansion became the property of Mrs. Livingston, one of his daughters. 

" Like all the other vast landed estates of this country, this of Allen's being first 
divided among the children, soon dwindled away, until no more of it was found 
in the family. The last fragment of Chief-Justice Allen's great manor, eighteen 
acres, surrounding the Livingston house, as it was long called, was finally bought 
by Messrs. Pretz & Weinsheimer, two enterprising merchants of the town, who 
have erected thereon the magnificent Seminary Building. 

" Allentown presents many attractions besides the beautiful scenery which sur- 
rounds the place. It contains many splendid stores and public buildings as well 
as a large number of handsome private residences ; among the latter I may men- 
tion ' Clover Nook,' the beautiful country-seat of Robert E. Wright, Esq., one of 
the prominent lawyers and leading citizens of the place, and the handsome resi- 
dence of Hon. Henry King, a prominent citizen of the valley, through whose 
exertions the charter for the Lehigh Valley Railroad was obtained. The public 
buildings of the place, which are quite spacious and handsome structures, are the 
Odd Fellows' Hall, Temperance Hall, Town Hall, Court-House, and Jail. The 
population of Allentown must be between nine and ten thousand ; the German 
element is still in the ascendant in a numerical point of view, and one hears the 
German language at every step in the streets, where business is transacted as well 
as in the suburbs, and yet the English element has become very influential too by 
reason of its intelligence and enterprise. It was my intention to have given a 
fuller description of the general appearance of the town, but I have already taken 
up so much space that I am compelled to terminate this letter, by saying that 
Allentown contains many families of position and refinement, with some of which 
it has been my privilege to become acquainted, and whose agreeable and cordial 
hospitality I have enjoyed on several occasions. I shall ever remember the days 
I have passed here with sincerest pleasure." 



CATASATJQUA. 



Catasauqua is situated on the east bank of the river Lehigh, in 
Lehigh County, three miles above Allentown. The town takes its 
name from the creek which empties into the Lehigh River at that 
place. This stream is found on old maps by the name of " Mill 
Creek," which name was given it in consequence of the first mill in 
that part of the county being erected upon its head waters, in 1735, 
by Thomas Wilson. Allen Township also had the name of Mill 
Creek Township given to it by the Court at Newton, Bucks 
County, in 1748. The name Catasauqua is a compound Indian 
word, signifying "Dry Land." 

Catasauqua was incorporated as a borough in 1853 ; the town is 
regularly laid out, extending about a mile in length, fronting the 
Lehigh Canal and Lehigh Eiver, and extending eastward about a 
half mile to the Northampton County line. It has about 3000 
inhabitants, 500 dwellings, 13 stores, 5 furnaces for making iron, 
1 bank, 7 churches, 1 lumber yard, J foundry, 1 machine shop, 1 
distillery, 1 flour-mill, 1 brick yard, 1 gasworks, 1 waterworks, 
5 hotels, 10 public schools, 1 printing office, 1 band, 1 fire company, 
and 1 military company. 

The borough of Catasauqua is steadily enlarging, and filling up 
the vacant spots within its border limits. The splendid position 
which it occupies in the midst of a rich iron ore and limestone 
country, the facilities it possesses by railroad and canal for trans- 
porting its productions, and the constantly increasing trade which 
it commands, all tend to impress one with the belief that it is 
destined to become a place of great importance. Nature has been 
lavish, so to speak, in her endowment of this position, as the site 
for a vast manufacturing town. The railways and canals diverg- 



292 CATASAUQUA. 

ing in every direction afford facilities in great abundance for 
transporting trie large amount of iron which is now being manu- 
factured, and will be hereafter in larger quantities. The growth 
of the town has been rapid, considering its age. The sagacity and 
foresight of the men who first selected the site for a town upon 
which Catasauqua now stands is apparent in almost every par- 
ticular. Beauty and economy, as well as health and convenience, 
are all promoted by the selection and the laying out of the town 
on a symmetrical and accurate plan. From the Lehigh, which 
flows along the entire front of the borough, it extends back on a 
gradual rise, affording an easy and gentle grade to the streets, 
carrying off all the accumulating filth, and keeping the town 
entirely free from even the semblance of a muddy pool. But few 
places can boast of so perfect a drainage, and when the necessary 
improvements in progress shall have been made the town will 
present an illustration of what foresight, industry, and art can do 
to produce a model town, combining the beautiful and substantial 
with that which promotes health and happiness. 

The town is well supplied with a good quality of gas by the 
Catasauqua Gas Company, which was incorporated in 1856, with 
a capital of $15,000. The works were erected the same year. The 
officers are Joshua Hunt, President ; John Williams, Secretary ; 
Solomon Beiry, Treasurer. 

The town is also well supplied with water from the waterworks 
erected by the Iron Company, for the benefit of the town, in 1845. 
During the present year these works have been considerably en- 
larged, and the pipes extended, so that Catasauqua can now boast 
of as good a supply of water as any place in the valley. Through 
the enterprise of Mr. James "W". Fuller, Catasauqua has now a 
beautiful cemetery, called "Fair View Cemetery;" it is beautifully 
located on an eminence on the western bank of the Lehigh opposite 
the borough. It commands a magnificent view of the town and 
surrounding country, and is in every respect suited to the purpose 
for which it has been designed. 

The churches are neat and substantial edifices, most of them 
having burial-grounds attached to them. They are as follows : — 





ANawsam. 



1 S Dwal 8c Sons M PM 



t^2^Z 



-^ 4/ 67^V-~^?^? 



-v-^ 



CHUKCHES, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, ETC. 293 

German Reformed and Lutheran, cor. of Bridge Street and Howertown Road. 
Revs. J. Rath and Cyrus J. Baker, Pastors. 

German Evangelical, cor. of Howertown Road and School Alley. 

Methodist Church, Front Street. Rev. F. D. Egan, Pastor. 

Old School Presbyterian, Bridge Street. Rev. Leslie Irwin, Pastor. 

First Presbyterian (New School), Second Street cor. of Walnut Street. Rev. C. 
Earle, Pastor. 

Irish Catholic, Second Street. Rev. L. V. Brennan, Priest. 

German Catholic, Second Street and Howertown Road. 

The public schools of the borough will compare favorably with 
any in the commonwealth. They comprise 4 primary, 3 secondary, 
2 grammar, and 1 high school; the number of children attending 
school is about 400 ; the standard books are the most approved, 
and none but competent and experienced teachers are employed. 

The school buildings are of brick, neatly inclosed, with fine 
large yards, surrounded with shade-trees and shrubbery. The 
board of directors have just completed a new school edifice, 55 feet 
by 46 feet, three stories high, surmounted by a fine cupola. The 
building is a splendid specimen of architecture, and is a credit to the 
town. The following persons constitute the board of directors : — 

Joshua Hunt, President; Charles Gr. Schneller, Treasurer; Mel- 
chior H. Horn, Secretary ; John Mclntire, Frederick Eberhard, 
William Miller. 

Catasauqua has also a bank ; the building is located on the 
north side of Front Street between Union and Wood Streets ; the 
institution is known as the "Bank of Catasauqua," and was incor- 
porated May 5th, 1857, with a capital of $400,000. The bank was 
organized on the 17th of September, of the same year, with the 
following officers and directors: — 

DIRECTORS. 

Eli J. Seager, David A. Tombler, 

John L. Hoffman, Joshua Hunt, 

C. A. Luckenbach, William Miller, 

J. P. Schall, Jonas Beiry, 

David Thomas, James W. Fuller, 

Samuel Laubach, Robert Oberly, 

Jacob Fatzinger. 

Eli J. Seager, President. Melchior H. Horn, Cashier. 

John O. Lichtenwalner, Teller. James W. Mickley, Clerk. 

The bank commenced discounting September 22, 1857, and has 



294 CATASAUQUA. 

discounted regularly ever since that time. The character of this 
institution has always been of the best, having ridden through the 
stormy panic of 1857 without beiDg obliged to suspend specie 
payments. 

The Lehigh Crane Iron Company's Works are located here, and 
consist of five furnaces. The size of each and time of erection is 
as follows : — 





Erected. 


Height. 


Boshes. 


No. 1 


1840 


47 feet 


11 feet 


" 2 


1841 


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1846 


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1850 


55 " 


18 " 


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1850 


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"With 6| pounds blast, the average yearly yield for the five fur- 
naces is about 40,000 tons of No. 1 foundry iron. The blast and 
machinery of the establishment are propelled by three steam- 
engines, one of them of 800 horse-power. The blowing cylinders 
for the furnaces are said to be the largest in the State. These 
works consume yearly some 90,000 tons of ore, 80,000 tons of coal, 
and 50,000 tons of limestone. The ore used is the hematite pro- 
cured from the Company's mines in the neighborhood, on the 
Catasauqua and Foglesville Eailroad; and the magnetic from Mor- 
ris County, New Jersey. 

The No. 1 furnace of this company was the first that used an- 
thracite coal successfully in making pig-iron in the Lehigh Valley. 
The works are perhaps the most complete and extensive in the 
United States. There are railroad tracks running through all parts 
of the grc 'ids, and to different parts of the furnace ; and, by 
means of the two locomotives owned by the Company, the ore is 
brought direct from the mines, the limestone from the quarries, and 
the coal either by canal, which passes directly through the Com- 
pany's grounds, or by the Lehigh Yalley Eailroad is switched on 
to the sideling belonging to the Iron Company. 

Everything in connection with the- furnace appears to have been 
arranged with a view to solidity, economy, and convenience. A 
foundry and machine-shop are also connected with the furnaces, in 
which most of the casting and repairing for the furnaces are done. 



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296 CATASAUQUA. 

succeeded in securing the services of Mr. David Thomas, who was 
engaged there with George Crane, in the manufacture of anthracite 
iron. He arrived here in July, 1839, and immediately commenced 
operations, he himself being the first to break ground in the new 
village of Craneville, as it was then called. A large number of 
laborers' shanties were erected, a fine residence for Mr. Thomas 
commenced. 

In 1840, the first furnace was completed under the direction and 
superintendence of Messrs. Thomas & Mitchell ; the remaining four 
furnaces were erected at the times stated as above. The village 
has steadily progressed until it has risen to the dignity of a bo- 
rough. 

There is an apparent comfort in the place very unusual in an 
iron manufacturing town. The dwellings of the workmen em- 
ployed in the furnaces are not the low hovels usually found at such 
establishments, but, with a few exceptions, have an air of neatness 
and order which is pleasant to behold. There is also a large num- 
ber of very handsome cottages and private residences, on which are 
displayed considerable taste in architectural design. The grounds 
surrounding them are very prettily laid out, and planted with trees 



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Eesidence of David Thomas, Esq., Catasauqua. 



and shrubbery. Buildings of this kind give an air of beauty and 
refinement to a town. There are perhaps few manufacturing towns 
where so much intelligence is displayed by the working classes. It 



BRIDGES, RAILROADS, ETC. 297 

appears to have been one of the first efforts of Mr. Thomas to instil 
in the minds of his workmen the great necessity of sobriety and 
self-culture ; and the truths inculcated in the minds of these men 
at that time appear to have spread and grown up with the place. 
There are several debating-societies in the town, which are well 
attended, a temperance society, masonic lodge, and several literary 
and benevolent societies. A newspaper was established here in 
1857 by Kelchner & Fry, and is still published ; the present editor 
is Mr. A. C. Lewis ; the paper is called The Catasauqua Herald. 

The Lehigh River is crossed at Catasauqua by two wooden 
bridges ; where the lower bridge now stands there was formerly a 
ferry known as Biery's Ferry. In 1824 a chain bridge was erected 
here, part of which was carried away by the freshet in 1841. It 
was repaired, and stood until 1853, when it was taken down, and 
the present structure, known as Biery's Bridge, erected in its place. 
In 1847 the Lehigh Crane Iron Company erected a bridge just 
above their works, which is also used as a railroad bridge. The 
Iron Company have also erected several bridges over the canal, 
one of them an iron bridge on an entirely new plan. On the Cata- 
sauqua Creek, not far from the town, stands the stone house where 
lived George Taylor, one of the signers of the Declaration of In- 
dependence. The house and part of the farm once belonging to 
Mr. Taylor is now owned and occupied by Jacob Deily. 

On the western bank of the river, near Biery's Bridge, is a small 
stone house which was used as a shelter and place of safety by the 
white inhabitants during the Indian wars. Tradition says this 
house was often attacked by the Indians, and were as often re- 
pulsed by its inmates. 

The Catasauqua and Foglesville Railroad connects at Catasauqua 
with the Lehigh Valley Railroad. This road was built in 1857 (a 
length of nine miles) at a cost of about $260,000, by the Lehigh 
Crane arid Thomas Iron Companies. During the present year the 
road has been extended 2J miles further, to a place called Trexler- 
town, where it will connect with the Allentown and Port Clinton 
Railroad, now in course of construction. The road was built for 



298 CATASAUQUA. 

the purpose of reaching the great iron ore beds belonging to these 
companies. The ore is now brought direct from the mines in the 
cars, and deposited at the mouth of the furnaces without a second 
handling. Heretofore it was carted entirely by mule teams, which 
was both slow and extremely expensive. The road has now two 
splendid locomotives. There are regular daily passenger and 
freight trains now on the road, which connect with the L. Y. R. R. 
About 12,000 tons of ore are carried over the road every month. 
About five miles from Catasauqua this road crosses the Jordan 
Creek on a splendid iron bridge, said to be the largest iron bridge 
in America. The bridge is visited by thousands of persons from 
all parts of the country every year. The bridge is reputed to be 
the handsomest of the kind ever built, and what greatly adds to 
the attraction is the charming scenery by which it is surrounded. 
As far as the eye can reach is presented the grandest view that the 
most enthusiastic admirer of nature's beauties might long to gaze 
upon. The following description of the bridge, by Ell wood Morris, 
civil engineer, we extract from the Journal of the Franklin Institute: — 

" The railroad extending into the interior from the Crane Iron Works, at Cata- 
sauqna, for the conveyance of iron ore from various beds in Lehigh County, Penn- 
sylvania, crosses the Jordan Creek where the valley is nearly a quarter of a mile 
in width at grade, and about 1000 feet at the bottom. 

" The grade level at this crossing is nearly 90 feet high above low water in the 
Jordan, and its valley formed a very serious obstacle to encounter upon a merely 
local road. 

" Proposals for an iron ! ■'•idge were finally invited by the company, and the 
contract assigned to F. Q. - thorp, Esq., a civil engineer of great experience and 
skill. 

" The extreme length of the bridge is 1165 feet, and the iron superstructure con- 
sists of 11 spans, of 100 feet each. These spans are of a suspension truss, each 
truss being 16 feet high, and the two trusses necessary to carry a single track 
railroad, being spaced 10 feet clear apart. The trusses are supported upon a group 
of cast iron pillars, of cruciform section, connected and braced together in stages, 
and firmly stayed laterally by heavy wrought iron bracing rods bolted to the 
masonry. 

" These skeleton piers of cast and wrought iron stand upon low piers of solid 
masonry, raised above the line of flood, and pointed at both ends. The single 
track railway crosses upon the deck of the iron bridge in a straight continuous 
line. 

" Early in July, this bridge, which is believed to be the longest iron structure in 
the United States, was tested to the entire satisfaction of the company, with a 
loaded train, drawn by a locomotive — the whole train weighing upon each span of 







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THE THOMAS IRON" WORKS. 299 

100 feet, 113 tons, or more than one ton to the foot lineal, which was the test load con- 
tracted for. 

" The bridge is now in use, and attracts crowds of visitors. It presents a very 
light and graceful appearance. 

"The first stone was laid August 27th, 1856, and the first locomotive crossed 
July 14, 1857, the whole having been completed in less than a year. This is in 
every sense a remarkable work, and does the highest credit to the energy and 
ability of the engineer and contractor, F. C. Lowthrop, Esq. The small cost at 
which this wide and deep valley has been crossed will surprise many of our engi- 
neers as much as the very short time required for its construction. The entire 
cost has been less than $77 per foot run, or about $77,000 for the entire structure. 
This structure demonstrates conclusively the speed and economy with which iron 
bridges may be erected for railway purposes, and will do much to extend their 
use in this country." 

We present a view of this beautiful structure. 

The officers of the Catasauqua and Foglesville Eailroad are David 
Thomas, President ; John Thomas, Superintendent ; Joshua Hunt, 
Secretary ; John Williams, Treasurer. 

UoJeendauqaa is a pleasant village situated on the west bank of 
the river Lehigh, about a mile above Catasauqua. The land upon 
which the town is situated comprises about thirty-five acres, and 
was laid out by the Thomas Iron Company, in 1855, the building 
lots are laid out to be 100 feet deep by 50 feet wide, with streets 
varying from 90 to 60 feet in width. The village at present con- 
sists of about 50 houses, and has two iron furnaces, one hotel, two 
stores, and a school-house. The residents of the place are princi- 
pally employed in and about the furnaces. The buildings are 
mostly of brick and frame. The residence of Mr. Samuel Thomas, 
the superintendent of the iron works, is a neat and commodious 
mansion; it occupies an elevated position, and commands a fine and 
varied prospect. The farm which surrounds it is in a high state 
of cultivation. The Thomas Iron Works are located here, and 
consist of two furnaces, which are the highest and largest furnaces 
and have the most powerful blast machinery in the United States. 
The product of pig iron per furnace is greater than any other in 
this country, and perhaps in the world. These works are con- 
sidered as model furnaces, having all the valuable recent improve- 
ments added to them. The Company was named in honor of Mr, 



300 CATASAUQUA. 

David Thomas, the manager of the Lehigh Crane Iron Works. 
The first, or No. 1 furnace, was put in blast for the first time on 
the first day of June, 1855. The second, or No. 2 furnace, October 
23d, 1855. They are built precisely alike, are 60 feet high, 18 feet 
diameter at the boshes, and 8 feet tunnel head. They yield up- 
wards of 20,000 tons of iron per annum. 

The largest yield of the two furnaces for any one week was 
605, 14, 1 tons, and for one furnace in one week 351, 10, tons, 
an amount unprecedented in the annals of iron making. The 
machinery of the establishment is propelled by two powerful steam 
engines. The company has also two locomotives, which are used 
for conveying ore from the mines to the furnaces, and shifting coal 
and iron cars to and from different parts of the establishment and 
adjoining grounds. The company contemplate erecting another 
furnace during the coming spring (1860). This establishment, like 
all others of a similar kind in the Lehigh Valley, has, under com- 
petent and faithful officers, been remarkably successful. The 
officers are C. A. Luchenbach, President ; John T. Knight, Secre- 
tary and Treasurer ; Samuel Thomas, Superintendent. 

Hokendauqua derives its name from a small creek which empties 
into the Lehigh on the eastern side, about a half mile above the 
village. It is an Indian word, "Hockin," in the Delaware Indian 
language signifying " Land," and " dochwe" — " searching for or 
seeking." The name, in fact, was not given to a stream of water, 
but was an exclamation used by the Indians at the time the first 
Irish settlers located there in 1730 ; it was probably made use of 
in speaking to the surveyors ; a large portion of the streams were 
named in this manner by the surveyors. 

Schreiber's, or Goplay* as it has recently been named, is about a 
half mile above Hokendauqua, on the same side of the river. 
Within the last few years some thirty or forty houses have been 

* Coplay is the name of a creek emptying into the Lehigh near Catasauqua. 
The proper and original name for this stream is " Copeechan," which is an Indian 
word signifying "that which runs evenly," or "a fine running stream." 




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THE "INDIAN LAND." 301 

erected near the railroad station ; there are several stores in the 
village, two limekilns, and the extensive distillery of Mr. Edward 
Schreiber, where are manufactured some 5000 barrels of whiskey 
per annum. The iron works of the Lehigh Valley Iron Co. are 
also located here ; they consist of one furnace 45 feet high, 14 feet 
boshes, and 5 feet tunnel head. The furnace was erected in 1854, 
is blown with steam power, and produces about 6000 tons of pig 
iron per annum. Benjamin S. Levan is the Superintendent. 

Laubachsville, another small village, is situated on the eastern 
bank of the river at the mouth of the Hokendauqua Creek, directly 
opposite Schreiber's; it contains a merchant and grist-mill, a saw- 
mill, post-office, and two stores ; a bridge was erected over the 
Lehigh (connecting the above places) in 1857, at a cost of $14,000. 

The railroad from Ironton, which is now being constructed, will 
connect with the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Schreiber's. The length 
of this road will be about six miles, and cost of construction about 
$70,000. The main object of this road is the transportation of iron 
ore and limestone to the large iron works in the vicinity. Ironton, 
the upper terminus, is the centre of the large iron mines in North 
Whitehall Township, which are among the oldest, largest, and most 
important in the county. The production of iron ore around 
Ironton has nearly trebled within the last five years, and should 
the discovery and production progress at half this rate for the next 
five years, there will be no less than 100,000 tons sent to market 
by this road. The purest blue limestone also exists in large quan- 
tities along this road. This important branch is expected to be 
completed by the spring of 1860. The President of the road is 
Eli J. Seager. 

There is in the neighborhood of the Hokendauqua Creek a tract of country 
called the "Indian Land ;" this was a tract of 6500 acres, laid off by order of the 
proprietaries in 1732, in order to make an experiment in civilizing the Indians, a 
number of whom were induced to settle on this land. The Moravians, who had 
commenced their Indian town Gnadenhutten, about fifteen miles further north, in 
1746, co-operated with the proprietaries, and occasionally sent one of their Indian 
exhorters to preach and instruct them ; this man's Indian name was " Seim," and 
as some German as well as Irish families had located in the neighborhood of this 



302 CATASAUQUA. 

reservation, it appears that this " Seim" was so highly esteemed by them, that in 
1752, when they petitioned the court for the erection of a township which included 
this tract, they desired that it be named " Seimsy Township," in honor of this 
Indian preacher. The country had been thus called for some years previous, and 
no doubt from the time when Seim (whose Christian name was Isaac) visited them, 
which was in the year 1746. The court, however, named the township " Lehigh," 
which it yet retains. Seim died at Gnadenhutten in the fall of 1746, of the small- 
pox. This Indian reservation of 6500 acres was the only tract of land in the 
county that was not subject to the proprietary quitrent of one halfpenny per acre ; 
the titles were free from this incumbrance — the early assessment lists of 1762 
show this. 

Whitehall, the next station we arrive at, is four miles from Cata- 
sauqua, and twenty-four miles from Easton ; the village consists of 
some twenty-five houses, and is important only as an outlet for 
business transacted by railroad with the surrounding neighbor- 
hood. On the eastern side of the river, directly opposite the village, 
are the extensive Hydraulic Cement Works of E. Eckert & Co. 
These works have been in successful operation for a number of 
years, and the cement (which is mined in the neighborhood) is 
said to be equal in every respect to the celebrated Kosendale 
cement. Previous to the completion of the Lehigh Valley Kail- 
road, the village (which then consisted of but three or four houses) 
and neighborhood were known as Siegfried's Bridge, and, before 
the erection of the bridge, as Siegfried's Ferry. Col. John Sieg- 
fried, who held several responsible positions in the army during 
the Eevolution, and to whom we have already referred, resided 
here. 

The name of Whitehall Township is derived from a house erected about the year 
1740, near the Jordan and Cedar Creeks, by Lynford Lardner, Esq., of Philadelphia ; 
this gentleman was the owner of a large tract of land, upon which he erected this 
house. On a map of Pennsylvania by Edward Scull, in 1770, the house is laid 
down and named " Grouse Hall ;" the township was laid out and organized in 1753, 
and then named Whitehall. Mr. Lardner's house was painted white, from which 
the name originated. The property is now owned by the Wenner family. 

The gentlemen of Philadelphia came to "Whitehall," the country house of Mr. 
Lardner, in large parties, to shoot the grouse on these heaths, which was a favorite 
diversion at that period for city folks. These lands, from their elevated situ- 
ation and want of streams, were burnt over every year by the Indians during many 
centuries. There is nothing found of an Indian town in this neighborhood, and, 
indeed, they located only where the timber grew, and at or near streams ; there is, 
therefore, no Indian name found for the Jordan Creek. The early inhabitants gave 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS IN 1763. 303 

some significant names to several districts in this neighborhood, before the erec- 
tion of the townships ; such as " Alle-mangel," now forming Heidleburg, Wash- 
ington, and other townships below the Blue Mountain. The country on or near the 
Coplay Creek, being well wooded and watered, was called " Egypta," in allusion to 
a fruitful country. The Jordan received its name from a like figurative description, 
of its flowing through a country, the south side of which was like to the Desert of 
Petrea, and the north side the fruitful country of Palestine. 

In 1762, the township contained 116 taxable inhabitants ; of these the greater 
number resided in that part called Egypta, being the upper part. The following 
appear the the most prominent, viz : Lawrence Guth, Adam Deshler, Nicholas 
Troxel, Paul Balliet, Stephen Behr, Peter Bassler, Peter Borkholder, George Edel- 
man, Michael Hoffmann, Jacob Mickley, Peter Kohler, George Knaup, Jacob Kern, 
Nicholas Meyer, Frederick Neuhard, George Ruch, John Thowalter, Samuel Yagor, 
Andrew Ohlanwein, Ulrich Flickinger, Charles Homberger, George Knaup. These 
persons settled here about 1730 to 1735 in one neighborhood ; part may have come 
a few years earlier. There are several features concerning the settlements worthy 
of notice ; the first is, that there was no person living in the whole township ex- 
cepting Germans ; and another, that they all had paid for the lands tbey settled 
upon. Every one's land was " deeded." This proves that they were in good circum- 
stances ; and no squatters (as the greater part of the early emigrants had been). 
Several had large farms. Lawrence Guth had near 800 acres, of which 220 were 
cleared. The Troxels had near 1500 acres (five families), 500 to 600 cleared. 
George Knaup, 100 acres cleared, and one grist-mill. Peter Kohler, 120 acres 
cleared, and one grist-mill. Paul Balliet, Peter Kohler, Daniel Guth, were also 
inn-keepers. In the whole, it would appear that the name of Egypta was very 
properly applied to this part of Whitehall. Amidst all the honorable company 
of Whitehallers, there was one exception, a certain stealer of wolf-traps, who was 
convicted on this charge, and his back was made to smart from " nineteen lashes 
well laid on," at the whipping-post in Easton, in 1766. 

The Indians, in 1763, committed depredations in the township. On the 8th of 
October, a party of fifteen Indians appeared on a sudden, attacked the house of 
Nicholas Marks, whom they killed ; his wife and an apprentice boy made their 
escape, though twice fired upon by the Indians, and proceeded to the house of 
Adam Deshler,* where there were twenty men under arms. These immediately 
went in pursuit of the enemy. In their progress they visited the farms of Jacob 
Mickley, t where they found a boy and a girl lying dead, the girl scalped ; and of 
Hans Snyder, where they found him and his wife and three children dead in the 
field, and three girls, one dead, another wounded, and the third scalped. On their 
return to Deshler's, they found the wife of Jacob Allemang with a child, dead, in 
the road. The houses of Marks and Snyder were both burnt. 



* Adam Deshler's house was a large two story stone building, the walls of which 
were remarkably thick. During the Indian war it was a place of refuge for the 
whole neighborhood, and was called the fort. It was the head-quarters of the in- 
habitants, from whence proceeded such parties as described above. 

t Joseph J. Mickley, Esq., a grandson of this Jacob Mickley, is a resident of the 
city of Philadelphia. To this gentleman the writer is greatly indebted for much 
valuable information of this county, as likewise by the use of his valuable library, 
he has been the means of adding many items of an interesting character to the 
whole publication. 



304 CATASAUQUA. 

The following letter from Eev. J. H. Dubes, of North. Whitehall, 
to the writer of these notes, concerning the early churches, &c, of 
that township, will be found exceedingly interesting. 

We have in our possession an old church record, which contains the baptisms 
in the Egypt Church since the year 1733. Whether the congregation existed at a 
period prior to that date is doubtful, but certainly not impossible. Public services 
were at first held in the houses of Messrs. George Jacob Kern and Peter Troxel, by 
the Rev. Henry Goetschi, of Zurich (Switzerland), who was one of the first German 
Reformed missionaries in America. The first entry into the church record was 
made on the 22d of March, 1733. At the top of the page is a sentence in Greek, 
which signifies, "Nothing succeeds without a trial;" and immediately afterwards, 
a sentence in Latin, which signifies, " All things to the glory of God and the sal- 
vation of our souls." The first child baptized was John, a son of Peter Troxel and 
his wife, Julianna Catherine. The sponsors were Nicolas Kern, John Egender, and 
Margaret Egender. Several children were baptized by Revs. Boehm and Torschius. 
In the year 1742, a German Reformed church was built, and Rev. John J. Wuert, 
a native of Switzerland, became the regular pastor. Wuert remained until the 
year 1744. During the next eight years, there is a hiatus in the MSS. ; but in the 
year 1752, J. J. Wissler Dillenberger, a native of the Grand Duchy of Nassau, 
became the Reformed pastor of the congregation ; but he remained only one year. 
The congregation now became missionary ground, and was supplied alternately by 
different ministers, until the year 1764, when John Dan'l Gross became the pastor 
of the Egypt, Jordan, Allentown, and Union congregations. In 1771, Rev. A. 
Blumer received a call to the charge, in which he labored faithfully till 1801, when 
he was succeeded by Rev. John Gobrecht. Mr. Gobrecht remained the pastor 
until 1831, when he was succeeded by my father (Rev. J. S. Dubes), who is still 
the Reformed pastor. 

The Egypt is a Union church (German Reformed and Lutheran), but at first it 
was entirely Reformed. By the foregoing, it appears that the German Reformed 
congregation was organized at least as early as 1733, but the Lutheran congrega- 
tion was not organized until fifteen years later, and it still continues the weaker in 
point of membership. I have mentioned only the Reformed pastors, because I 
have not the Lutheran records in my possession. 

The first church was built, as I have said, in 1742. It was a small log building, 
but the dimensions are no longer known. The seats are said to have been loose 
planks laid on blocks. The second church was built in the year 1785. It was of 
stone, 40 by 50 feet. The pulpit was of the old wineglass or tulip style. The seats 
were long narrow pews. 

In 1851, a new brick church was built, 50 by 65 feet, with a fine steeple and bell. 
The cost was about $11,000, but these debts were liquidated as soon as the church 
was completed. The new church was consecrated on the 11th and 12th of April, 
1851. 

The origin of the names Allemiingel and Egypta, is said to be as follows : The 
first settlers in Lynn township, in Lehigh, and Albany, in Berks, were very poor. 
The soil was miserable, and they were literally in want of everything. They 
therefore called the country " Alle mangel," or "all wants." Our valley was, on 
the contrary, remarkably fertile, and because ancient Egypt had been the " granary 
of the world, they called it Egypta, on account of its fancied resemblance, in fer- 
tility, to the "glorious valley of old Father Nile." 




& 



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SLATIXGTOX. 305 

I think it very doubtful whether Rev. H. Muhlenberg ever preached in the Egypt 
church. He certainly was never the regular pastor of the congregation. 

The frequent vacant spaces in the church record are probably owing to the fact 
that the entire congregation was frequently compelled to fiee from the incursions 
of the Indians. 

Laury's, the next station on the Lehigh Valley Eailroad, is two 
miles above Whitehall, and consists of a cluster of some ten or 
twelve dwellings, a merchant and grist-mill, a tavern, and a lumber 
and coal yard. 

Rockdale, three miles further up the river, consists of some ten 
dwellings and a tavern. The village is beautifully situated at the 
head of a pool of water, caused by the dam of the Lehigh Navi- 
gation Company erected across the river about a mile below the 
place. The buildings in the village are all entirely new, built in 
the cottage style ; which, together with the charming scenery sur- 
rounding it, gives the village an exceedingly romantic appearance. 
Large quantities of iron ore, mined in the neighborhood, are sent 
to the different furnaces from this point. 



SLATINGTON. 

Slatington, four miles above Rockdale, thirty-three miles above 
Easton, and two miles below the Lehigh Water Gap, is a beautiful 
village containing about 450 inhabitants, who are principally 
Welsh, and are employed in the slate quarries and manufactories 
of the Lehigh Slate Company. 

The village is situated on elevated ground on the west side of 
the river Lehigh, the principal part of it about one-fourth of a mile 
west of the railroad depot ; there is also a number of houses and a 
hotel near the depot, which are considered as part of the village. 

Slatington contains a large number of substantial brick and 
frame dwellings, two stores, three hotels, a saw-mill, the manu- 
21 



306 SLATINGTON. 

factories and quarries of the Slate Company, a school-house, and 
three churches of the following denominations : Old School Pres- 
byterian, erected 1851; Welsh Calvinistic Methodist, 1851; Welsh 
Congregationalists, 1859. The village is supplied with excellent 
water, which is conveyed to different parts of the place through 
pipes, from a spring on a neighboring mountain. From its ele- 
vated position and proximity to the far-famed Lehigh Water Gap, 
it commands a varied and extensive prospect; its beautiful and 
healthy location has attracted the attention of a number of 
strangers, who have located there, and erected several handsome 
residences. The beautiful mansion of Mr. E. McDowell, the 
superintendent of the Slate Works, is situated near the centre of 
the village, and the grounds which surround it are tastefully 
arranged and ornamented with arbors and parterres of choice 
flowers. A bridge was erected across the river at this place in 
1853, at a cost of near $12,000, from which a splendid view of the 
" Gap" can be had. (See engraving.) 

Slatington was laid out by the Lehigh Slate Company in 1851. 
The storehouse, and a large proportion of the dwelling-houses, 
were erected by E. McDowell and D. D. Jones, previous to the 
incorporation of the company. The first* slate developed in 
the Lehigh valley, was quarried by a company of gentlemen 
from Baltimore, in 1828, near the slate dam. This place, as 
well as several others, had been subsequently abandoned ; the 
slate in quality not meeting the expectations of the owners. A 
permanent location of slate works was not made before the dis- 
covery in 1849, of the large bed of excellent slate, now called the 
Washington quarry, at this place. The various quarries here had 
been leased only; but in 1851, and succeeding years, considerable 
tracts of land were purchased, including the Washington quarry. 

* One of the first slate quarries opened in the State of Pennsylvania, was near 
the Delaware Water Gap, and was owned by the Pennsylvania Slate Company, 
which was incorporated in 1811. This company worked the quarries for some 
time, but for want of skill and knowledge of the business, were obliged to cease 
operations. Under the auspices of the Hon. James M. Porter, and a few others, 
the company was revived, and operations renewed, and the affairs of the company 
again became prosperous. 



SLATE QUARRIES. 307 

The company organized in 1854, and in April of that year, was 
chartered by act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, with a capital 
of $150,000 ; James Kennedy, Esq., was elected President, John 
Pollock, D. D. Jones, Thomas Craig and A. C. McLean, Directors, 
Robert McDowell, Esq., Treasurer and Superintendent. Since the 
period of their organization, in 1854, other or additional purchases 
of lands have been made ; whereupon beds of slate of an excellent 
quality are found. These quarries are, without doubt, the largest, 
and furnish the finest quality of slate in the United States. The 
company have been very prosperous, having added, since 1854, 
over a dozen of good and substantial dwelling houses, and at pre- 
sent own over thirty buildings ; embracing two factories, a large 
store, &c, also an excellent water-power on the Trout Creek, 
which empties into the Lehigh River, below the railroad station. 
The stockholders have for some years received a dividend of nine 
per cent. The company has just completed a large factory near 
the mouth of Trout Creek for the purpose of manufacturing 
enamelled slate mantles, table tops, &c, and for some time have 
furnished the slate to a large establishment at New York and 
Philadelphia, for these purposes. The annual product of these 
quarries is over 10,000 squares of roofing slate, and 2000 cases of 
school slates, of 10 dozen each case. The mantle business, although 
prosecuted to a limited extent, amounted to $16,000 the first year, 
and is constantly increasing. When proper machinery and facili- 
ties for extending this branch are perfected, the amount must in- 
crease to an unlimited extent ; for it no doubt is only in its infancy, 
and we think that the Lehigh Slate Company, with its many facili- 
ties and excellent quality of slate, has a very bright prospect for 
the future. The total sales of slate, &c, by this company during 
one year, amounted to $109,800, and from other sources, the total 
product of slate in the valley is enhanced to $200,000 annually. 

D. D. Jones, of Philadelphia, is the President of the Lehigh Slate 
Company, and Robert McDowell, Superintendent and Treasurer. 
Both these gentlemen are largely interested, and are indefatigably 
engaged in attending to the best interests of the Company. 



308 SLATINGTON. 

The early history of the township and neighborhood where Slatington is situated 
has considerable interest. The township of Heidelberg was first settled about 
1730 and was organized in 1752, at the first court held at Easton, on 16th June. 
One of the first settlers was William Kern, who erected a grist-mill and saw-mill 
on the Trout Creek, at or near the present village of Slatington ; in 1762, the 
saw-mill was owned by one of his sons. From the draft of a road laid out in 
1761, it is evident that there was a fording place of the Lehigh River; and the 
great Indian path, called the warrior's path to Wyoming, crossed at this place, as 
it is so named the "Indian crossing place." 

In a map of 1755 by Evans, and on another by E. Scull in 1770, the mill of 
Kern is laid down as "Trucker's mill ;" and Benjamin Franklin, in his reports to 
Governor Morris, in January, 1756, states that he procured boards for the building 
of Fort Allen at "Trucker's saw-mill;" and in the Colonial History and Pennsyl- 
vania Archives, various officers who had been stationed at this place, having 
under their command a company of troops for the protection of the neighborhood 
from the aggressions of the Indians, from 1756 to 1764, sometimes date their 
despatches from " Kern's," and occasionally, also, from "Trucker's." This latter 
name is nowhere to be found in the assessments of that period. The writer was 
considerably perplexed to find any explanation of the seeming contradictions. 
Mr. D. D. Jones, the President of the Lehigh Slate Company, took an interest in 
endeavoring to solve the question. He has ascertained from several very aged per- 
sons, descendants of William or John Kern, that the name of "Trucker" was a 
name given to him in order to distinguish him from others of the same name in 
the neighborhood. The word " Trockener," in German, signifying, in this appli- 
cation, a "dry person," "a joker, wit, &c." — being a characteristic of the man — 
this explanation is no doubt entitled to full credit. 



Lehigh Water Gap, the next station we arrive at, is two miles 
north of Slatington, and eleven miles below Mauch Chunk. At 
the railroad station, there are several dwellings, and a hotel. A 
chain bridge crosses the Lehigh directly opposite the station, which 
is located on the southern side of the " Gap Mountain." 

Here the attention of the traveller, for the first time since leav- 
ing Easton, is drawn to mountain scenery in all its grandeur. 
The mountains we have already noticed in passing through the 
valley, may be considered as only hills in comparison to the Blue 
Eidge. As we approach the Gap, the view becomes exceedingly 
grand ; and, as we enter it, it presents, on either hand, a promon- 
tory of rocks and forest rising very abruptly, apparently to the 
height of a thousand feet. The Lehigh Water Gap is so named 
from the river Lehigh, which steals its way through the Kittatinny 
or Blue Mountains, which is the dividing line between Carbon 
County and that of Northampton and Lehigh Counties. The 



LEHIGH WATER GAP. 309 

mountain range extends for many miles, both to the right and left, 
and presents a regular barrier to the broad and extensive Kitta- 
tinny valley, with its highly cultivated fields and sloping wood- 
lands. The Gap, prominently walled on both sides, forms a 
sublime object of admiration, and presents to the observant spec- 
tator one of the most picturesque prospects in Pennsylvania. At 
almost every season of the year, the diversified defile is exceed- 
ingly attractive, and is visited by hundreds of travellers in search 
of the sublime and beautiful. In ascending the western bank 
some hundred feet, the scene heightens in grandeur, and the 
stream — the beautiful, yet curling, rippled waters of the Lehigh 
Eiver — adds much to make it impressive beyond oblivion. The 
eastern side is bordered for the distance of a half mile by craggy 
cliffs, towering to an amazing height, and of forms the most 
bizarre. Ascending this height, the traveller is amply rewarded 
for the exertion of climbing from rock to rock, in scaling the pine- 
covered side of the mountain, by the rich and extensive prospect 
which the eye then commands. At his feet roll the waters of the 
majestic Lehigh, the Lehigh Valley Eailroad, 

" O'er which the trains come thundering, 
Like an avalanche o'er the quaking earth," 

and the Lehigh Canal, on which the merry boatman's horn is 
heard echoing down the valleys and over the hills. On the oppo- 
site side is a towering ridge, near the summit of which appears, 
emerging from the surrounding woods, a lonely pile of rocks, whim- 
sically called "The Devil's Pulpit," which indignantly suffers but 
a few blasted pines to shade its sullen brow. At a distance, an 
extensive country, variegated with woods and farms, watered by 
the meandering Lehigh and its tributaries, and ridge retiring 
behind ridge till lost in the faint tints of the horizon, all burst 
upon the sight, and fill the mind with sublime ideas of the great- 
ness of the Creator. The shattered rocks thrown together in wild 
confusion, and the strata of rounded stones which are to be met 
with in passing through the Gap, have given rise to the supposi- 
tion that the Lehigh, being obstructed by the Blue Mountain, was- 



310 SLATINGTON. 

formerly dammed up into a lake, which, at length bursting its 
barrier, formed the chasm now called the Lehigh Gap. Professor 
Silliman thus describes the Lehigh Gap: — 

" Many mountain scenes engaged our attention, particularly as we approached 
the gap in the Blue Ridge through which the Lehigh passes. This mountain 
range stretches for many miles in a straight line to the right and left, presenting 
a regular barrier, fringed with forest trees and wooded on the entire slope, which 
was as steep as it could be and sustain the wood upon its sides. The passes of 
rivers through mountains are almost invariably picturesque, and it is always 
interesting to observe how faithfully the rivers explore the clefts in mountain 
barriers, and, impelled by the power of gravity, wind their way through rocky 
denies, and pursue their untiring course to the ocean. It is common to speak of 
such passes as being formed by the rivers, which are often supposed to have burst 
their barriers, and thus to have shaped their own channel. This may have hap- 
pened in some peculiar cases, and there are doubtless many instances of the lakes — 
of which many must have been left at the retiring both of the primeval and of the 
diluvial oceans — having worn or burst away their barriers, especially when com- 
posed, as they must often have been, of loose material. But with respect to most 
rocky passes of rivers through mountains, there appears to be no reason whatever 
to believe that the waters have torn asunder the solid strata ; a more resistless 
energy must have been requisite for such an effect ; and we must, therefore, con- 
clude that the rivers have, in most instances, merely flowed on the lowest and 
least obstructed passages ; their channels they have doubtless deepened and 
modified, often to an astonishing degree, but they have rarely formed them 
through solid rocks." 

A traveller coming into the valley through the Lehigh (rap, 
thus very correctly describes both its physical and moral aspects. 
We extract from Day's Historical Collections : — 

" In passing through the Gap, the broad expansive valley of highly-cultivated 
fields and sloping woodlands, below the mountains, opens a new world, in striking 
contrast to the mountainous region above. The beauty and richness of the 
country, however, is still more increased towards Easton. From Cherryville to 
that place, it is an elevated plain, with here and there a gentle depression for the 
small streams that make their way to the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers. As far as 
the eye can reach, may be seen rich farms, neat stone dwellings, commodious and 
well-filled barns, and beautiful orchards richly laden with fruit, affording a speci- 
men of the independence characteristic of the German farmers of Pennsylvania. 
Indeed, the general appearance of prosperity indicates that the inhabitants are — 
what they are generally acknowledged to be — as honest, industrious, and frugal a 
set of people as are to be found in any part of the Union. The German language 
is very generally spoken among them, though we are informed that English schools 
are becoming more frequently established and generally patronized, for the educa- 
tion of the young in the prevailing language of our country. Many of the farmers 
send their daughters to the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, which is so justly 
celebrated for the acquirement of a good English education." 



PETITION FOR PROTECTION AGAINST THE INDIANS. 311 

The following petition from the inhabitants of Lehigh Town- 
ship, one hundred years ago — which shows their condition at that 
time — presents a striking contrast with the above glowing descrip- 
tion of the same section of country : — 

Oct. 5, 1757. The petition of the back inhabitants — viz., of the township of Lehi, 

situate between Allentownship and the Blue Mountains, most humbly sheweth : 

That the said township, for a few years past, has been, to your knowledge, 
ruined and destroyed by the murdering Indians. 

That since the late peace, the said inhabitants returned to their several and 
respective places of abode, and some of them have rebuilt their houses and out- 
houses which were burnt. 

That since the new murders were committed, some of the said inhabitants de- 
serted their plantations, and fled into the more improved parts of this province, 
where they remain. 

That unless your petitioners get assistance from you, your petitioners will be 
reduced to poverty. 

That the district in which your petitioners dwell, contains twenty miles in 
length and eight in breadth, which is too extensive for your petitioners to defend, 
without you assist with some forces. 

That your petitioners apprehend it to be necessary for their defence, that a road 
be cut along the Blue Mountains, through the township aforesaid, and that several 
guard-houses be built along this said road. 

That there are many inhabitants in the said township who have neither arms 
nor ammunition, and who are too poor to provide themselves therewith. 

That several Indians keep lurking about the Blue Mountains, &c. &c. 

Craig's, generally called the Lehigh Gap, is a small village, con- 
sisting of some thirty dwellings, a store, hotel, and boat-yard. 
The place is situated at the northern base of the Blue Mountain, 
at the entrance to the Gap. The Aquanshicola Creek empties into 
the Lehigh at this place. Craig's tavern was celebrated for many 
years as the dining place for hungry travellers by the stage route 
from Easton to Mauch Chunk and Berwick. 

Allentownship was originally settled by immigrants from the 
North of Ireland, between the years 1728 and 1733. It appears 
that William Craig and Thomas Craig were the principal settlers, 
and always took an active part in the welfare of their adopted 
country. General Thomas Craig — who died in 1832, at the ad- 
vanced age of 92 years — an active soldier in the revolutionary 
war, was a son of Thomas Craig. The following tribute to his 
memory, we copy from the Lehigh Herald:— 



312 SLATINGTON. 

"Viewing Mm as a revolutionary officer who early fought and bled in the de- 
fence of his country, who was the first officer to protect the Continental Congress 
in its then important deliberations, who was the first to march to Canada, who 
was in the battles of Grermantown, Monmouth, Quebec, Brandywine, and many 
others in North and South Carolina, and considering that we are now reaping the 
fruits of his services, could not but excite in all the liveliest interest, and wrest 
from them the mingled tears of gratitude and sorrow. The merits of Gen. Craig 
early secured to him the office of colonel in the revolutionary army, the duties of 
which he discharged with fidelity and zeal. Subsequent to the termination of the 
conflict between England and the American Colonies, he was elected Major-General 
of the 7th Division P. M., which station he held for several years. In his cha- 
racter were combined the qualities of a soldier and a gentleman. He was strict 
in the soldier's discipline, yet courteous and affable in his manners, and easy of 
approach when the time and occasion approved it. In the hour of danger, he was 
brave, quick to conceive, and prompt to execute. He possessed an active and in- 
telligent mind, which faithfully served him to the last. He delighted to speak of 
his military career, and the triumph of his country's arms, at the time when his 
country was his idol, and its enemies his bitterest foes. But he speaks no more ! 
His curtain of life has dropped, and he sleeps in death!" 

Parryville, the nest place in our route, is five miles above the 
Gap, and two miles below Weissport. The village is situated on 
the eastern bank of the Lehigh River, near its junction with the 
Poco Poco, or Big Creek. The village consists of about thirty 
dwellings, one tavern, one store, one school-house and church, one 
grist-mill, one saw-mill, and one anthracite furnace. 

The furnace was erected in 1855, by Messrs. Bowman, Brothers 
& Co., and was known as the Poco Poco Iron Works. At the 
time of its erection, it was 40 feet high, 42 feet square at its base, 
and 13 feet boshes, and was driven by water power. In 1858, the 
company was incorporated under the name and style of the Carbon 
Iron Company, with a capital of $100,000. During the present 
year, the works have been considerably enlarged and improved, 
and steam power substituted for water. The furnace has hereto- 
fore produced upwards of 5000 tons of pig iron per annum, which 
quantity, in future, is expected to be considerably increased, in 
consideration of the recent improvements. The hematite ore used 
by this furnace is mostly mined in the vicinity, from one and a 
half to six miles distant, along a range called Stony Ridge, north 
of the Blue Mountain. The business of the place is now, and has 
heretofore been, done entirely by means of the canal. The com- 



MURDER OF THE INDIAN ZACHARY. 313 

pany have now in contemplation the erection of a railroad and 
wagon bridge across the Lehigh to connect with the Lehigh Valley 
Kailroad. This furnace, since its erection, has been remarkably 
successful under the management of Mr. J. Bowman. The present 
superintendent is Mr. William Thomas. About a mile below the 
village is the dam of the Lehigh Navigation Company, and just 
below this a wire bridge spans the Lehigh, for the convenience of 
foot passengers ; about two miles west of the bridge is the char- 
coal iron furnace of Balliet & Bros., which has been doing an 
extensive business ever since its erection. 

Between Parryville and the Gap are the extensive paint mines 
of Breinig & Bros., who manufacture all colors at their extensive 
establishment in Allentown. At these mines it is said are pro- 
duced some eleven different colors, from a light ochre to a dark 
Spanish brown. The colors, for durability and beauty of shade, 
are pronounced equal to the imported. 

In our passage from the Gap to Parryville we cross the Lizard 
creek where it empties into the Lehigh. It is a very rapid creek, 
and has several mills on it. The creek gives name to a cultivated 
valley through which it flows. 

The Indian missionary village Wecliquetank (from a map in 
Loskiel) is supposed to have been on this creek. When the Pon- 
tiac's war broke upon the frontier, in 1763, there was much reason 
for the Brethren at this place to fear a repetition of the dreadful 
scenes of 1755. In addition to this source of alarm, all of the 
Moravian villages were objects of antipathy to the Scotch-Irish 
settlers along the valley, who considered them as convenient lurk- 
ing places for parties of hostile Indians. Loskiel thus describes 
the state of feeling at that time in this region : — 

The whites had killed an Indian, Zachary, and his wife and child, of the 
Wechquetank settlement, who were found sleeping in a bam away from home. 
After this event the soldiers became still more suspicious of the Indians at Wech- 
quetank, naturally supposing that Zachary's four brothers living there would 
endeavor to avenge his death, and that all the inhabitants would take their part. 
They therefore prohibited the Indians to hunt, threatening to kill the first they 
should meet in the forest ; however, Capt. Wetherhold was at last persuaded to 
desist from this measure by Brother Grabe, the missionary. The most difficult 

22 



314 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

task lie had was to pacify a party of Irish freebooters, who in great rage declared 
that no Indian should dare to show themselves in the woods, or they would be 
shot dead immediately ; and that if only one white man more should be murdered 
in this neighborhood, the whole Irish settlement would rise in arms, and kill all 
the inhabitants of Wechquetank, without waiting for an order from government, 
or for a warrant from the justice of the peace. The same threatening message 
was sent to Nain (a missionary village near Bethlehem). 

The congregation was finally obliged to leave Wechquetank and flee to Nazareth, 
and soon after to Philadelphia. Wechquetank was afterwards burned by the 
whites, about the month of November, 1763. 



LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

The next places we arrive at are Lehighton and Weissport, 
situated on opposite sides of the river, two miles above Parryville 
and four miles below Mauch Chunk. 

Lehighton was laid out some fifty years ago by Col. Jacob "Weiss 
and William Henry. The groundplot of the town is laid out on 
the western side of the river, upon an elevated piece of land ; the 
lots are large, affording an extensive yard and garden to each 
dwelling. Within a short distance of the village there is a mineral 
spring, the waters of which have proved beneficial in several cases 
of disease and debility ; the spring was discovered over a century 
ago (we shall have occasion to refer to it on a subsequent page). 
The village at present contains about 400 inhabitants, three hotels, 
a school-house, three stores, one merchant and grist-mill, and two 
extensive tanneries. The grounds of the Carbon County Agricul- 
tural Society are located here; the first fair was held in the fall of 
1858 ; the society own some ten acres of ground, which is beauti- 
fully located. During the past year the necessary exhibition halls 
and cattle stalls were erected, and a splendid trotting circle one- 
third of a mile in extent, graded ; the whole is inclosed by a high 
fence. The officers are John Lentz, President; and W. Kemerer, 
Secretary. The Mahoning Creek empties into the Lehigh just 
below the village. 



THE OLD MORAVIAN GRAVEYARD. 315 

The old Moravian graveyard, near the village, is an interesting 
spot ; from its elevated position an extended view of the beautiful 
Mahoning valley can be had ; at the foot of the hill upon which 
the graveyard is located, is the site of old "Gnaden Huetten" and 
the old Mahoning Church, which, on the evening of the 24th of 
November, 1755, was attacked by the Indians and burnt, and 
eleven of the inhabitants murdered (full particulars of which and 
of the early settlement of Lehighton and "Weissport will be given 
in the following pages). 

After the enemy had retired, the remains of those killed at 
Mahoning were collected from the ashes and ruins, and interred. 
A marble slab in the old graveyard marks the place. 

The graveyard, although not kept in very good order, is inclosed 
with a neat paling fence. Over the entrance is an arch on which 
is inscribed — 

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from, henceforth. 
Commenced Aug. 7th, 1748. Renewed Aug. 7th, 1848. 

The slab which covers the remains of the Moravians has the 
following inscription : — 

TO THE MEMORY OF 
GOTTLIEB AND SUSANNA ANDREAS 

WITH THEIR CHILD JOHANNA; 

MARTIN AND SUSANNA NITSHMANN ; 

LEONHARD GATTERMEYER ; 

CHRISTIAN FABRICIUS ; CLERK ; 

GEORGE SCHWEIGERT ; 
JOHN FREDRICK LESLEY; AND 

MARTIN PRESSER 

WHO LIVED AT GNADENHUTTEN 

UNTO THE LORD 

AND LOST THEIR LIVES IN A SURPRISE 

FROM INDIAN WARRIORS 

NOVEMBER 24TH 

1755 
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 

Psalm cxvi. 15. 
(A. Bovjer, Philadelphia 1788.) 



316 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

A small white marble monument was erected here a few years 
ago by a private citizen of Bethlehem, upon which is inscribed — 

TO HONOR AND PERPETUATE 

THE REMEMBRANCE OF THE 

MORAVIAN MARTYRS 

WHOSE ASHES ARE GATHERED 

AT ITS BASE, THIS MONUMENT 

IS ERECTED. 

A branch of the Lehigh Valley Eailroad is proposed to be run 
from Lehighton through the Mahoning Valley (a distance of fifteen 
miles) to Tamaqua. When this road is completed it will afford to 
the citizens of the Schuylkill region another outlet for their coal 
and manufactures, and a short and direct route through the Lehigh 
Valley to New York and intermediate places. 

Weissport is situated on the left or eastern bank of the Lehigh, 
directly opposite Lehighton; it occupies a broad flat of land, once 
the site of Fort Allen and New Gnadenhuetten ; it was laid out by 
Col. Jacob Weiss in 1817. The proprietor, Col. Weiss, was a 
native of Philadelphia, and during the whole Revolution was in 
the service of his country. Shortly after the war, he purchased 
seven hundred acres of land from the Moravians, and in 1785 
removed his family to this place. Col. Weiss was an active and 
enterprising citizen ; his name is intimately associated with all the 
early efforts to improve this region of country; he died in 1839, 
and his remains rest in the graveyard near the village. Weissport 
has about 500 inhabitants, three churches (German Reformed and 
Lutheran, German Methodist, and English Methodist), a boarding- 
school, one public school, two stores, two hotels, one carriage fac- 
tory, one saw-mill, an extensive rolling-mill, two boat-yards, and 
several limekilns. The village is regularly laid out, and contains 
a large number of handsome and substantial brick buildings. 

The Fort Allen Hotel occupies the spot upon which the fort was 
built by Benjamin Franklin. The well which was constructed by 
Franklin is still in a good state of preservation. 

Weissport has been several times inundated; once in 1786, by 
what was known as "Tippey's Flood," when the family of Mr. 



EARLY HISTORY. 317 

Weiss and several others barely made their escape, so sudden was 
the rising of the water ; and again in 1841, when the bridge over 
the Lehigh was partly swept away. The early history of this 
village and Lehighton we give below: — 

The first settlement in Carbon County was made by the Mora- 
vian missionaries, on the Mahoning Creek, near Lehighton, in 1746. 
The Mohegan Indians, having been driven out of Shekomeko, in 
the State of Connecticut, and from Patchgatgoch, in New York, 
near the borders of the latter State, found an asylum for a short 
time at Friedenshutten, near Bethlehem. 

Deeming it inconvenient to maintain a large Indian congregation 
so near Bethlehem, the missionaries purchased two hundred acres 
on the north side of Mahoning Creek, about half a mile above 
its junction with the Lehigh. Each Indian family possessed its 
own lot of ground, and began its separate housekeeping. Grna- 
denhutten became a very regular and pleasant town. The church 
stood in the valley, on one side the Indian houses, forming a cre- 
scent, upon a rising ground. The road to "Wyoming and other 
Indian towns lay through the settlement." This was the famous 
path over Nescopeck Mountain, still known as the warrior's path. 
The missionaries tilled their own grounds, and every Indian family 
their plantation; and on the 18th of August, 1746, they had the 
satisfaction to partake of the first fruits of the land at a love feast. 
Christian Eauch and Martin Mack were the first missionaries who 
resided here. They were succeeded by other missionaries, who 
were occasionally removed, the Brethren being of opinion that fre- 
quent changes of the ministers of the congregation might be useful 
in preventing too strong an attachment to, and dependence upon 
men, and fixing the hope of the Indian more upon God alone. 
Several parts of Scripture had been translated into the Mohegan 
language. The congregation used morning and evening to sing 
and pray, and sometimes to hear a discourse upon the text of 
Scripture appointed for the day. 

The holy communion was administered to the communicants 
every month. The Indians called the communion day the " great 
day" and such indeed it was, for the missionaries could never find 



318 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

words to extol the power and grace of God, revealed on these 
occasions. In September, 1749, Bishop Johannes von "Watteville 
went to Gnadenhutten and laid the foundation of a new church, 
that built in 1746 being too small, and the missionaries being 
obliged to preach out of doors. The Indian congregation alone 
consisted of five hundred persons. About this time Eev. David 
Brainerd, with several of his Indian converts, visited Gnadenhut- 
ten. The congregation continued in this pleasing and regular state 
until the year 1754. 

When the Delawares and Shawanees on the Susquehanna began 
to waver in their allegiance to the English, and were preparing to 
take up the hatchet on the side of the French, it became an object 
of some importance to them to withdraw their Indian brethren in 
the missionary settlements beyond the reach of the whites, that the 
hostile savages might more freely descend upon the white settle- 
ments. The Christian Indians for some time resolutely refused to 
move to Wyoming. At length, however, a part were seduced by 
the influence of Teedyuscung (his baptismal name was Gidean). 
The Mohegans who remained were joined by the Christian Dela- 
wares, from Menialagemeka. 

The land on the Mahoning being impoverished, and other cir- 
cumstances requiring a change, the inhabitants of Gnadenhutten 
removed to the north side of the Lehigh. The dwellings were 
removed, and a new chapel was built in 1754. The place was 
called New Gnadenhutten (it stood where Weissport now is). The 
dwellings were so placed that the Mohegans lived on one, and the 
Delawares on the other side of the street. The Brethren at Bethle- 
hem took the culture of the old land on the Mahoning upon them- 
selves, made a plantation of it for the use of the Indian congregation, 
and converted the old chapel into a dwelling, both for the use of 
those brethren and sisters who had the care of the plantations, and 
for missionaries passing on their visits to the heathen. 

The Indians in the French interest were much incensed that any 
of the Moravian Indians chose to remain at Gnadenhutten, and 
determined to cut off the settlement. After Braddock's defeat, in 



INDIAN MASSACRE AT GNADENHUTTEN. 319 

1755, the whole frontier was open to the inroads of the savage foe. 
Every day disclosed new scenes of barbarity committed by the 
Indians. The whole country was in terror ; the neighbors of the 
Brethren at Gnadenhutten forsook their dwellings and fled ; but 
the Brethren made a covenant together to remain undaunted in the 
place allotted to them by Providence. However, no caution was 
omitted, and because the white people considered every Indian as 
an enemy, the Indian Brethren were advised as much as possible 
to keep out of their way, to buy no powder nor shot, but to strive 
to maintain themselves without hunting, which they willingly com- 
plied with. But God had otherwise ordained! On a sudden the 
mission house at Mahoning was, late in the evening of the 24th of 
November, attacked by the French Indians, burnt, and eleven of 
the inhabitants murdered. 

The following letter, from Timothy Horsefield, Esq., of Bethle- 
hem, to Governor Morris, describes this murder at Gnadenhutten, 
near Lehighton: — 

Bethlehem, November 26, 1755. 
* * * On Monday, the 24th, I dispatched a messenger to Gnadenhutten with 
an answer to Martin Mack, that we would prepare a convoy for the Indians, accord- 
ing to their request. About 8 o'clock, Col. Anderson and his company marched 
out of Bethlehem for Gnadenhutten, and a number of people from other parts of 
the country followed them the same day, many of whom we supplied with powder 
and ball. The 25th, in the morning, about 3 o'clock, I was called up, the mes- 
senger being returned from Gnadenhutten, with the news Mr. Parsons has informed 
you of as above. Upon which I sent letters out to alarm the country, and people 
came from all quarters, in forwarding whom I did all that lay in my power. To- 
wards night, eight of the white people, and between thirty and forty of the Indians, 
men, women, and children, who had made their escape in the night (from New 
Gnadenhutten), arrived here, but could not give us any just account of what had 
happened, the murders being committed on the other side of the river, near a mile 
distant. The 26th, Captain Wilson, of Bucks County, with his company of sixty 
to seventy persons, who quartered here over night, set out this morning towards 
the mountains, as did several other parties from morning till night. In the eve- 
ning came Joseph Sturges, George Partch and his wife, the persons who had escaped 
out of the flames from the fury of the Indians, from whom I received the following 
account of that most inhuman and shocking affair, viz : " That Monday, the 24th 
inst., an hour before sunset, George Custard, with two others of the neighbors, 
came to Mahony (the place the murder was committed at), and informed them 
that in the evening they might expect a number of armed men to be with them 
all night. That about 6 o'clock, while they were setting at supper (fourteen in 
number), they heard the dogs bark very much, and concluding it was the people 
Custard had informed them of, Joseph Sturges and three more got up to receive 



320 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

them, but on opening the door four guns were immediately discharged in upon 
them, which killed one of them immediately, and one of the balls grazed on Sturges' 
chin and set his hair on fire, then four or five more fired, and so a third time, when 
the Indians immediately rushed in upon them, and killed some of them on the 
spot ; the rest run into an adjoining room, from whence George Partch escaped 
through a window, and meeting Senseman, who was coming down to see what was 
the matter, took him along with him ; but Sturges, with three men, and three women 
and a child, got up stairs, at the head of which was a trap-door, which they shut 
down and secured in the best manner they could ; the Indians, after attempting 
to force it open, and finding they could not, fired in upon them through the ceiling 
and roof of the house, but without effect, upon which they set fire to the house. 
Sturges watched his opportunity (as he thought while they were scalping those 
below), jumped out at the gable-end window, and Partch's wife following him, 
they both made their escape. Worbas being sick in another house, and seeing all 
this with an Indian posted as a guard at his door, also made his escape through a 
window, at the time the Indian went to the rest of his company, who he believes 
did not exceed twelve. He and Sturges both believed they were Delawares, and 
that one of them had a French match coat on. Partch's wife being newly come to 
the place, and not knowing the woods, crept at a small distance and hid herself 
behind a stump, and saw Fabricius, who jumped out of the window after her, shot 
and scalped, and otherwise inhumanly abused ; the rest perished in the flames. 
She saw them likewise set fire to the barns and stables, with forty head of cattle, 
besides five horses and three colts, and also the rest of the houses (one of which 
was very large), and after they had taken what they pleased and burned the rest, 
she saw them go to the spring-house and feast, which was about 12 o'clock at night, 
and when they had done, they set the spring-house on fire and went their way. 
The next day Partch and Sturges returned with some armed people, and found 
Partch's wife, and also found a blanket and a hat, with a knife stuck through them, 
upon the stump of a tree, which I bave heard is a signal among the Indians, " Thus 
much we have done, and are able to do more." The number of them that are 
killed are seven men, three women, and a child. 

This melancholy event proved the deliverer of the Indian congre- 
gation at New Gnadenhutten (Weissport), for upon hearing the report 
of the guns, seeing the flames, and soon learning the dreadful cause 
from those who had escaped, the Indian Brethren went immediately 
to the missionary, and offered to attack the enemy without delay. 
But being advised to the contrary, they all fled into the woods, and 
New Gnadenhutten was cleared in a few moments, some who were 
already in bed having scarce time to dress themselves. 

Brother Zeisberger, who had just arrived in Gnadenhutten from 
Bethlehem, hastened back to give notice of this event to a body of 
militia (Hayes' company), who had marched within five miles of 
the spot; but they did not venture to pursue the enemy in the 
dark. These troops were stationed at the forsaken village, and 



INDIAN" DEPREDATIONS. 821 

erected a temporary stockade, and were to protect the scattered 
settlers, and guard the Brethren's mills, which were filled with 
grain, and the property of the Indians, from being destroyed. 

The troops, however, unacquainted with Indian manoeuvres, had 
the misfortune to lose the greater part of their men before they 
had been long stationed there, for on the new year's day following, 
the savages had recourse to stratagem, in which they so well suc- 
ceeded, that a large number of the men were cut off from the pro- 
tection of the fort and murdered. 

These soldiers had been amusing themselves with skating on the 
ice, the river being frozen over ; when at some distance higher up, 
where the river made a bend, they espied two Indians, apparently 
amusing themselves in the same manner. Believing these already 
in their power, they pursued them, when, on a sudden, a party that 
lay in ambush, ready to fall upon them, rushed forth from their 
hiding place and put them to death; the few who remained thought 
they were unable to defend themselves in the fort and took flight, 
whereupon the savages, after seizing upon as much property as 
they could carry off, set fire to the fort, to the houses of the In- 
dians, and to the Brethren's mills, which was a great loss to the 
Brethren as well as the Christian Indians. 

The Governor, in the beginning of January, 1756, deputed Ben- 
jamin Franklin to superintend the erection of forts, one of which 
was erected where Weissport now is. 

The following letter from him will give a full description of his 
proceedings : — 

While the several companies in the city and country were forming and learning 
their exercise, the Governor prevailed with me to take charge of our northwestern 
frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and provide for the defence of the 
inhabitants by raising troops and building a line of forts. I undertook this mili- 
tary business, though I did not conceive myself well qualified for it. 

He gave me a commission with full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions 
for officers, to be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising 
men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who had 
in the preceding war been an officer in the army against Canada, was my aid-de- 
camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had burnt Gmadenhutten, a village 
settled by the Moravians, and massacred the inhabitants ; but the place was 
thought a good situation for one of the forts. In order to march thither, I assem- 
bled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those people. I was 



322 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

surprised to find it in so good a posture of defence ; the destruction of Gnadenhut- 
ten had made them apprehend danger. The principal buildings were defended by 
a stockade ; they had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New 
York, and had even placed a quantity of small paving-stone between the windows 
of their high stone-houses, for their women to throw them down upon the heads 
of any Indians that should attempt to force into them ; the armed Brethren too 
kept watch, and relieved each other on guard as methodically as in any garrison 
town. In conversation with the Bishop, Spangenberg, I mentioned my surprise ; 
for knowing they had obtained an act of Parliament, exempting them from mili- 
tary duties in the Colonies, I supposed they were conscientiously scrupulous of 
bearing arms. He answered me, " That it was not one of their established prin- 
ciples, but at the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought to be a principle 
with many of their people. On this occasion, however, they, to their surprise, 
found it adopted by but few." It seems they were either deceived in themselves, 
or deceived the Parliament ; but common sense, aided by present danger, will 
sometimes be too strong for whimsical opinions. 

It was the beginning of January, 1756, when we set out on this business of 
building forts. I sent one detachment towards the Minisink, with instructions to 
erect one for the security of the upper part of the county ; and another to the 
lower part with similar instructions, and I concluded to go myself with the rest of 
my force to Gnadenhutten, where a fort was thought more immediately necessary. 
The Moravians procured us five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage, &c. &c. Just 
before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven from their planta- 
tions by the Indians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms, that they might 
go back and bring off their cattle. I gave them each a gun, with suitable ammu- 
nition. We had not gone many miles before it began to rain, and it continued 
raining all the day. There were no habitations on the road to shelter us, till we 
arrived near night at the house of a German, where, and in his barn, we were all 
huddled together as wet as water could make us. It was well we were not attacked 
in our march, for our arms were of the most ordinary sort, and our men could -not 
keep the locks of their guns dry. The Indians are dextrous in contrivances for 
that purpose, which we had not. They met that day the eleven poor farmers 
above mentioned, and killed ten of them ; the one that escaped informed us that 
his and his companions' guns would not go off, the priming being wet with the 
rain. The next day being fair we continued our march, and arrived at the deso- 
late Gnadenhutten ; there was a mill near, around which were left several pine 
boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves ; an operation the more necessary at 
that inclement season, as we had no tents. 

Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found there, who had 
been half interred by the country people. The next morning our fort was planned 
and marked out, the circumference measuring four hundred and fifty feet, which 
would require as many palisades to be made, one with another, of a foot diameter 
each. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. 
When they were up our carpenters built a platform of boards all around within, 
for the men to stand on when to fire through the loop-holes. We had one swivel- 
gun which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let 
the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces ; and thus 
our fort (if such a name can be given to so miserable a stockade) was finished in 
a week, though it rained so hard every other day that the men could not well 
work. 



CAPTIVITY OF THE GILBERT FAMILY. 323 

This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defence against Indians 
who had no cannon. 

Finding ourselves now posted securely, and having a place to retreat to on 
occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with 
no Indians, but we found the places on the neighboring hills where they had lain 
to watch our proceedings. There was an art in the contrivance of those places, 
that seems worth mentioning. 

It being winter, a fire was necessary for them ; but a common fire on the sur- 
face of the ground would, by its light, have discovered their position at a distance. 
They had, therefore, dug holes in the ground, about three feet in diameter, and 
somewhat deeper ; we found where they had with their hatchets cut off the char- 
coal from the sides of burnt logs lying in the woods ; with these coals they had 
made small fires in the bottoms of the holes, and we observed among the weeds 
and grass the prints of their bodies, made by their laying all round, with their legs 
hanging down in the holes to keep their feet warm, which, with them, is an essen- 
tial point. This kind of fire, so managed, could not discover them, either by its 
light, flame, sparks, or even smoke. It appeared that the number was not great, 
and it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by them with prospect of 
advantage. 

We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty, who com- 
plained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers and exhortations. 
When they enlisted, they were promised, besides their pay and provisions, a gill 
of rum a day, which was punctually served out to them, half in the morning and 
half in the evening ; and I observed they were punctual in attending to receive it, 
upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, "It is, perhaps, below the dignity of your pro- 
fession to act as steward of the rum ; but if you were to distribute only just after 
prayers, you would have them all about you." He liked the thought, undertook 
the task with the help of a few hands to deal out the liquor, executed it to satis- 
faction, and never were prayers more generally and punctually attended. So I think 
this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by some military laws for non- 
attendance on divine service. 

The following narrative of the captivity of the Gilbert family, 
who resided near Lehighton, is abridged from a communication in 
Atkinson's Casket for 1835. • (From Day's Historical Collections.) 

Benjamin Gilbert, a Quaker, from Byberry, near Philadelphia, in 1775, removed 
with his family to a farm on Mahoning Creek, about five miles from Weissport 
(then called Fort Allen). His second wife was a widow Peart. He was soon com- 
fortably situated, with a good log dwelling-house, barn, saw and grist-mill. For 
five years this peaceable family went on industriously and prosperously ; but on 
the 25th of April, 1780, the very year after Sullivan's expedition, they were sur- 
prised about sunrise by a party of eleven Indians, who took them all prisoners. 

At the Gilbert farm they made captives of Benjamin Gilbert, Sr., aged sixty-nine 
years ; his son, forty-one years ; Jesse Gilbert, another son, nineteen ; Sarah Gil- 
bert, wife to Jesse, nineteen ; Rebecca Gilbert, a daughter, sixteen ; Abner Gilbert, 
a son, fourteen ; Elizabeth Gilbert, a daughter, twelve ; Thomas Peart, son to Ben- 
jamin Gilbert's wife, twenty-three ; Benjamin Gilbert, a son of John Gilbert, of 
Philadelphia, eleven years. Andrew Herriger, of German descent, a hireling of 
Benjamin Gilbert's, and Abigail Dodson, sixteen years, a daughter of Samuel Dod- 



324 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

son, who lived on a farm about half a mile from Gilbert's mill, and to which she 
had come in the morning to make inquiry about some flour. The Indians then 
proceeded about half a mile to Benjamin Peart's dwelling, and there captured 
himself, aged twenty-seven; Elizabeth, his wife, twenty; and their child, nine 
months old. The whole number of captives were fifteen. 

The last look the poor captives had of their once comfortable home, was to see 
the flames and falling in of the roofs, from Summer Hill. 

The Indians led their captives on a toilsome road over Mauch Chunk and Broad 
Mountains, along the Warrior's Path, across Quakake Creek and Moravian Pine 
Swamp (by the present Lowrytown), where they lodged the first night. On the 
way they had prepared moccasins for some of the children. Indians generally 
secure their prisoners by cutting down a sapling as large as a man's thigh, and 
therein cut notches in which they fix their legs, and over this they place a pole, 
crossing it with stakes drove in the ground, and on the crotches of the stakes they 
place other poles or riders, effectually confining the prisoners on their backs, and 
besides this they put a strap round their necks, which they fasten to a tree. In 
this manner the night passed with the Gilbert family. Their beds were hemlock 
branches strewed on the ground, and blankets for a covering. Andreo Montour 
(an Indian) was the leader of the party. The Montour family had always been 
firm adherents to the British, and were employed by the Governors of Pennsylvania 
already in 1742 as interpreters at the treaty at Philadelphia, and frequently car- 
ried messages to the Indians from the Governors. In 1742, the Moravian, Count 
Zinzendorf, of Ostenwacken (near Williamsport, on the west branch of Susque- 
hanna), met with Mrs. Montour, who, he says, was a French woman that had 
married an Indian chief. 

The forlorn band was dragged on over the wild and rugged region between the 
Lehigh and the Chemung branch of the Susquehanna. They were often ready 
to faint by the way ; but the cruel threat of immediate death urged them again to 
the march. The old man, Benjamin Gilbert, indeed, had begun to fail, and had 
been painted black — a fatal omen among the Indians ; but when his cruel captors 
had put a rope around his neck, and appeared about to kill him, the intercessions 
of his wife softened their hearts, and he was saved. Subsequently, in Canada, the 
old man, conversing with the chief, observed that he might say what none of the 
other Indians could, " That he had brought in the oldest man, and the youngest 
child." The chief's reply was impressive : " It was not I, but the great God, who 
brought you through, for we were determined to kill you, but were prevented." 

" On the 54th day of their captivity, the Gilbert family had to encounter the 
fearful ordeal of the gauntlet. The prisoners," says the author of the narrative, 
" were released from the heavy loads they had heretofore been compelled to carry, 
and were it not for the treatment they expected on their approaching the Indian 
towns, and the hardship of separation, their situation would have been tolerable ; 
but the horror of their minds, arising from the dreadful yells of the Indians as 
they approached the hamlets, is easier conceived than described — for they were no 
strangers to the cruelty exercised upon the captives on entering their towns. The 
Indians — men, women, and children — collect together, bringing clubs and stones 
in order to beat them, which they usually do with great severity, by way of 
revenge for their relations, who have been slain. This is performed immediately 
upon their entering their village where the warriors reside, and cannot be avoided ; 
the blows, however cruel, must be borne without complaint. The prisoners are 
sorely beaten until their enemies are weary with the cruel sport. Their sufferings 



CAPTIVITY OF THE GILBERT FAMILY. 825 

were in this case very great ; they received several wounds, and two of the 
women, who were on horseback, were much bruised by falling from their horses, 
which were frightened by the Indians. Elizabeth, the mother, took shelter by the 
side of one of them (a warrior) ; but upon his observing that she met with some 
favor upon his account, he sent her away ; she then received several violent blows, 
so that she was almost disabled. The blood trickled from their heads in a stream, 
their hair being cropt close, and the clothes they had on in rags, made their 
situation truly piteous. Whilst the Indians were inflicting this revenge upon the 
captives, the chief came and put a stop to any further cruelty by telling them ' It 
was sufficient,' which they immediately attended to." 

Soon after this a severer trial awaited them. They were separated from each 
other. Some were given over to Indians to be adopted, others were hired out by 
their Indian owners to service in white families, and others were sent down the 
lake to Montreal. Among the latter was the old patriarch, Benjamin Gilbert. But 
the old man, accustomed to the comforts of civilized life, broken in body and mind 
from such unexpected calamities, sunk under the complication of woe and hard- 
ship. His remains repose at the foot of an oak, near the old fort of Cceur du Lac, 
on the St. Lawrence, below Ogdensburg. Some of the family met with kind treat- 
ment from the hands of British officers, at Montreal, who were interested in 
their story, and exerted themselves to release them from captivity. Sarah Gil- 
bert, the wife of Jesse, becoming a mother, Elizabeth left the service she was 
engaged in — Jesse having taken a house, that she might give her daughter every 
necessary attendance. In order to make their situation as comfortable as possible, 
they took a child to nurse, which added a little to their income. After this, 
Elizabeth Gilbert hired herself to iron a day for Adam Scott. While she was at 
her work, a little girl belonging to the house acquainted her that there were some 
who wanted to see her, and upon entering the room she found six of her children. 
The joy and surprise she felt on this occasion, were beyond what we shall attempt 
to describe. A messenger was sent to inform Jesse and his wife, that Joseph Gil- 
bert, Benjamin Peart and his wife and their young child, and Abner and Elizabeth 
Gilbert the younger, were with their mother. 

Among the customs, or indeed common laws of the Indian tribes, one of the 
most remarkable and interesting was adoption of prisoners. This right belonged 
more particularly to the females than to the warriors, and well was it for the 
prisoners that the election depended rather upon the voice of the mother than on 
that of the father, as innumerable lives were thus spared whom the warriors would 
have immolated. When once adopted, if the captives assumed a cheerful aspect, 
entered into their modes of life, learned their language, and, in brief, acted as if 
they actually felt themselves adopted, all hardship was removed, not incident to 
Indian modes of life. But, if this change of relation operated as amelioration of 
condition in the life of the prisoner, it rendered ransom extremely difficult in all 
cases, and in some instances precluded it altogother. These difficulties were ex- 
emplified in a striking manner in the person of Elizabeth Gilbert, the younger. 
This girl, only twelve years of age when captured, was adopted by an Indian 
family; but afterwards permitted to reside in a white family, of the name of 
Secord, by whom she was treated as a child indeed, and to whom she became so 
much attached as to call Mrs. Secord by the endearing title of mamma. Her resi- 
dence, however, in a white family was a favor granted to the Secords by the Indian 
parents of Elizabeth, who regarded and claimed her as their child. Mr. Secord, 
having business at Niagara, took Betsy, as she was called, with him ; and there, 
after long separation, she had the happiness to meet with six of her relations, most 



326 LEHIGHTON AND WEISSPORT. 

of whom had been already released and were preparing to set out for Montreal, 
lingering and yearning for those they seemed destined to leave behind, perhaps 
forever. The sight of their beloved little sister roused every energy to effect her 
release, which desire was generously seconded by John Secord and Col. Butler, 
who, soon after her visit to Niagara, sent for the Indian who claimed Elizabeth, 
and made overtures for her ransom. At first he declared, " He would not sell his 
own flesh and blood;" but attacked through his interest, or, in other words, his 
necessities, the negotiation succeeded ; and, as we have already seen, her youngest 
child was among the treasures first restored to the mother at Montreal. Eventu- 
ally they were all redeemed, and collected at Montreal on the 22d August, 1782 ; 
when they took leave of their kind friends there, and returned to Byberry, near 
Philadelphia, after a captivity of two years and five months. 

The premises where stood the dwelling and improvements of the Gilbert family, 
were in 1833 occupied by Septimus Hough, but now (1859) are owned and occupied 
by Michael Garber, and there is now there erected a valuable grist and saw-mill, 
and brick dwellings, and is one of the most valuable properties in Mahony valley, 
in Carbon County. 

There is mention made of the capture, but not the release of Abigail Dodson, in 
the above narrative. Judge Isaac T. Dodson, of Mauch Chunk, relates of his aunt 
Abigail, that she did not return home before the expiration of five years. Without 
any notice being given to the parents, she one day appeared in her father's house, 
dressed in scarlet cloth, like an Indian of high rank, and, intending to await her 
mother's recognition, she was silent for some time ; and upon her mother's asking 
what her desire was, the word mother ! uttered by her with a heart full of love, 
disclosed all, and they rushed towards each other with feelings not to be described, 
and were locked in an embrace ardent and long. Joy unspeakable was in that 
family — the lost was found. She related that she had received from the Indian 
family, where she had been, every possible kindness ; the dress she appeared in 
was of costly texture, and was given to her by the chief when she left his family, 
as a distinctive mark of affection. Miss Dodson, was a young lady of intelligence, 
and previous to her captivity, had for some years been a pupil at Bethlehem 
school. 

*The settlements made in Mahony valley before the Revolutionary War were ex- 
clusively English, or of English descent. The Custards, Dodsons, Pearts, Johns, 
Thomas's, Gilberts, and other early settlers there are found in history. One of the 
neighbors of the Moravians, named Custard, came to Gnadenhutten on the evening 
of the murders committed on 25th November, 1755, and not more than two hours 
before the murder took place, to inform the missionaries of their danger, and also 
that succor was near at hand. It is doubtful whether any English families lived in 
Towamensing, other than those in this valley, before the Revolution. After the war 
nearly all of these English people removed to the Susquehanna, where it was said 
the soil was more productive, and where they found more congeniality in habits 
existing in the neighborhood, as well as more intelligence. It is well known that 
the Indians never forgive an injury done to them ; revenge, if it be possible, will be 
sure to be taken although it be ten, yea, twenty and more years subsequent to the 
act, therefore, we can readily account for the abduction of the Gilbert family. The 
Montours (Indians) had been (both father and son) Government officials, who 
being aware that the Quakers had always been opposers to the Penn family, by 
whose bounty they, the Montours, for so many years had been upheld in the hon- 
orable relation as ambassadors, interpreters at treaties, &c.,the Revolution occurring, 
diminishing their distinctions, of course, led them to commit this act. More of 



CARBON COUNTY. 327 

the Indian murders can be traced to revenge for private wrong done to them as 
individuals, than to public injuries. 

The next place we arrive at, after leaving Lehighton and Weiss- 
port, is Mauch Chunk, the seat of justice for Carbon County. Before 
describing this place we will give a slight sketch of the county. 



CARBON COUNTY. 

Carbon County was taken from Northampton and Monroe, by 
the act of 1843. All of the townships forming the county were 
taken from Northampton, with the exception of Penn Forest, 
which was taken from Monroe. The length of the county is 
twenty miles, breadth nineteen miles — area three hundred and 
ninety square miles. The county comprises the very mountainous 
region on the Lehigh Eiver, above the Kittatinny or Blue Moun- 
tains, a region rugged and wild in appearance, and poorly adapted 
to agricultural purposes ; but abounding iu mineral wealth, in ex- 
tensive forests of pine lumber, and water power. The Lehigh 
Eiver divides the county into two nearly equal parts. 

Above the Blue Mountain, and running nearly parallel with it 
in a southwestern and northeastern direction, are Mahoning 
Mountain, Pokono, Pohokopo, Mauch Chunk, Broad, Spring, and 
Sharp Mountains, Bald Bidge and Pine Hill. Several of these 
mountains rise from eight hundred to twelve hundred feet above 
the Lehigh Eiver. Anthracite coal is found in great abundance in 
most of the above elevations. 

At the time of the erection of Northampton County (1752), this 
part of it was known as Towamensing, which is an Indian word, 
meaning "wilderness." Col. Burd, who crossed the Blue Mountain 
in 1758, on his way to Fort Allen says: "When I arrived on the 
top of the mountain, I could see a great distance on both sides of 
it ; the northern part of the country is an entire barren wilderness, 
not capable of improvement." 



328 CARBON COUNTY. 

The first settlement in Carbon County was by the Moravian 
Missionaries, in the year 1746, at Gnadenhutten, the details of 
which have been given in a preceding page. "We find in the as&es- 
ment lists of 1762, the names of but thirty-three persons in the 
whole of this township. In 1782, the number had increased to 
forty-five taxables, most of whom were farmers, others having saw- 
mills. The valuation of all the property, real and personal, in 
Towamensing in 1762, was £187, near $500. The amount of taxes 
collected fluctuated very much in consequence of the Indian wars. 
In 1754 the amount was £8 9s lOd; in 1761, £4 3s; and in 1764 
only seventeen shillings and nine pence. It is stated that the 
collector, Gottfried Greenzweig, received an order on the county 
treasurer for his fees of two pence. We find in the commissioners' 
books of 1779, dated July 11th, "seven townships, all lying north 
of the Blue Mountain, are ordered not to pay any taxes, by reason 
of the calamity and grievances of the enemy." 

The inhabitants of this wilderness were, from the commencement 
of the Indian wars in 1755 to the close of the Eevolution, in a very 
unsettled state. The Indians hovered around these borderers until 
1782, frequently committing outrages upon the whites of the most 
horrible description. The massacre at Gnadenhutten, the narrative 
of the Gilbert family's captivity, &c. &c, we have already giveD. 
The first public road made in Carbon County was most probably 
the one asked for in the following petition from the Moravians in 
1748, two years after the commencement of Gnadenhutten. 

" To the Honorable the Justices of Bucks County at Newton — Showeth : That 
your petitioners, and many of their friends and acquaintances, living in these parts, 
and many of the inhabitants of this and the neighboring Province, have frequent 
occasion of going beyond the Blue Mountains to Mahoning Creek, and to the heal- 
ing waters lying not far from them, on which account a good wagon road, from the 
King's road near Bethlehem, to the said creek, and to those waters, will be abso- 
lutely necessary, as many people have received much benefit by the said waters, 
and there is, and will be, a frequent intercourse between these settlements and 
those upon and about the Mahoning Creek. 

" Therefore, your petitioners humbly desire this Honorable Court will order that 
a road may be laid out accordingly, and that persons may be appointed for that 
purpose, and your petitioners will thankfully acknowledge the same." 

The healing waters mentioned in the above petition, was a min- 



PAST AND PRESENT APPEARANCES CONTRASTED. 329 

eral spring at the Mahoning Hill, about one mile south of Lehigh- 
ton, and to which we have already alluded. 

Previous to the opening of the coal mines, and the commence- 
ment of the improvements by the Lehigh Navigation Company, 
the county made but slow progress in manufactures and agricul- 
ture. But since then — how great the change ! At that time a con- 
tinuous forest overspread nearly the whole landscape, adorning moun- 
tains with its verdure, darkening valleys with its deep shadows, and 
bending solemnly over the margins of the creeks and the noble 
Lehigh ; the forests were then filled with a variety of wild animals r 
some of them beasts of prey, others suitable for food, and others 
valuable for their furs. Bat a few years earlier the entire county 
was in possession of a few barbarous tribes of a race, which is 
steadily fading from existence, their language totally unlike any 
European tongue, their government rude, their religion, a singular 
system of Paganism without idolatry, their character ferocious, yet 
not undistinguished by virtues, and their mode of life precarious-' 
and unsettled, dependent almost wholly upon fishing and the chase. 
Now, in place of these, we have beautiful towns and villages spring- 
ing up in every part of the county and peopled by an enterprising 
and intelligent community. The tracks of wild beasts could then 
be found where now extend the solid pavements, trodden by thou- 
sands of human feet; the shrill screams of the wild-cat and panther 
were then heard where now resound the busy hum of machinery 
and the sweet melody of sacred music. 

Then the solitary foot path, winding through the forest, along 
which the wild beast and the wild man alike travelled in single 
file, answered every purpose; a little later, and a single wagon- 
road is petitioned for; now, the railway and canal are extended to 
all parts of the county, new treasures are daily opened to the 
astonishment of the world, and millions of tons of the products of 
this county are carried to all parts of the Union, to enliven and 
to make both rich and poor comfortable and happy. Land 
then worth but a few cents per acre cannot now be bought for 
thousands. And to whom or what can these great changes be 
23 



330 



CARBON COUNTY. 



attributed? The answer is, the discovery of coal, and the indomi- 
table perseverance of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, 
who through the most trying circumstances and difficulties con- 
structed their canal to give an outlet not only to the riches of the 
coal mines, but also to the excellent timber with which Carbon 
and Luzerne Counties abounded. Since that time the number of 
farms has also greatly increased. We append the following statis- 
tics, taken from the census of 1850 ; since then, however, the 
number of farms and their products have greatly increased, as well 
as the number of inhabitants, churches, schools, &c. &c. &c. : — 



Cash value of farms 


$488,200 


Bushels of oats 


$20,952 


Improved land 


14,439 


a 


" wheat 


7,325 


Unimproved land . 


23,578 


u 


" buckwheat 


10,511 


Bushels of rye 


23,568 


a 


" potatoes 


20,768 


" " corn 


21,852 









The population of the county in 1850 was 15,656, number of 
families 2,650, with twenty churches and fifty-three schools, which 
were attended by 2,200 pupils. The above figures, at the present 
time, may be nearly doubled. 

The lower end of the tract of land, formerly called by the suffer- 
ing fugitives from Wyoming, "The Great Swamp," or "Shades of 
Death," is in this county. It is a vast body of rather wet land, 
formerly covered with a dense forest of pine, on both sides of the 
Biver Lehigh, extending from its source downwards some twenty 
miles. The lumber on this tract has furnished a vast amount of 
freight for the Lehigh Navigation Company's canal. The sturdy 
Dutch settlers that vegetated on the borders of this lonely region 
were not gifted with the curiosity of New Englanders ; the Shades 
of Death had rarely echoed the sound of an axe or the voices of 
the cheerful laborer. The sole disturber of its recesses, with, per- 
haps, a single exception, was an occasional traveller who ventured 
to pass through them in quest of a more hospitable country. The 
exception we have mentioned was a recluse who had selected this 
place as a residence, and who was generally known as the " Hermit 
of the Shades of Death," and sometimes called "The Blue Moun- 



THE BLUE MOUNTAIN HERMIT. 331 

tain Hermit." Mrs. Ellet, the distinguished authoress, has made 
the hermit the hero of one of her charming stories * 

It will, perhaps, not be uninteresting to the reader to give a 
slight sketch of the hermit, and the causes which induced him to 
seek "a lodge in some vast wilderness;" we will do so in the words 
of the traveller, who visited that region many years ago: — 

I left Chambersburg many years ago, on an excursion througb the wilds of 
Pennsylvania, on horseback. I arrived at the Shades of Death. I was ever a 
lover of nature in her wildest moods. It was with no slight feeling of enjoyment 
that I treaded these dreary woods, struggling along over many obstacles. The 
day had been beautiful ; but as night drew on, a dreadful tempest broke over me. 
The violent rain soon swelled the choked stream, and every step I sank midway 
in the mire. The hour was late. I toiled on, and as near as I could tell was at 
least twelve miles from any dwelling. I toiled on with my faithful horse for 
another hour, when I was about to despair of ever getting out of the mire ; when, 
to my utter surprise, I caught the sound of a human voice : " This way, stranger ; 
this way." I saw a faint gleam of light ; it seemed miles distant ; but ere many 
seconds had elapsed, a pine-knot blazed out close at hand. " This way," the voice 
repeated ; " follow me ; you had better lead your horse." The light flared on the 
tall figure of the man who carried it ; but I could not see the habitation to which 
he was leading me. At last he stopped before a lodge, or rather an artificial cave 
constructed in the side of the hill. The roof was supported by stakes, and clum- 
sily covered with earth. The interior, however, which I had leisure to survey, 
while the stranger took my horse, had more of comfort than I expected. A bright 
fire of pine fagots threw light upon the narrow walls. One side was furnished 
with shelves, on which books were piled with much disorder. The oaken table 
was covered with books and papers, and a small lamp was burning upon it. A 
chest, a few wooden chairs, and a bench, completed the list of furniture. It looked 
strangely to see such a collection of books in the midst of such solitude. To my 
surprise, upon examination, I found them to be a large collection of the classics, 
and of the older British poets and prose authors. I had scarcely finished my 
survey when the stranger entered, and promised if I would stay for the rest of the 
night to direct me on my way as early as I might wish on the morrow. I need 
not say how willingly I accepted his proffered hospitality. He forthwith set about 
preparations for our evening meal. The dingy cupboard was resorted to, and 
yielded from its recesses better cheer than I expected. A loaf of bread, and the 
remains of a saddle of venison, flanked by a bottle of prime brandy and an earthen 
jug of water. My host was extremely prepossessing in appearance, though he 
looked like one in ill-health. He conversed freely, but responded not in the jovial 
tone I assumed. Any attempt to draw from him the cause of his seclusion was 
answered by a brief negative, and the cloud that came over his face, warned me 
that my curiosity was displeasing, and not likely to be gratified. I had a good 
night's rest upon the couch of straw and skins, and awoke in the morning much 
refreshed. I was prepared to accept an invitation to share his solitude a few days 
longer, but as such an invitation was not extended, I had nothing better to do 



* The story was published in "The Gift for 1841." 



332 CARBON COUNTY. 

than to take my leave, having previously arranged to take my breakfast at a 
village some miles distant. So, after thanking him for his kindness, and receiving 
his instructions as to my road, I parted from him. On my road I noticed a short 
distance from his a cave a small clearing, in the midst of which stood a rude and 
evidently deserted hut ; which increased my curiosity still more. After a brisk 
ride of three hours I arrived at a settlement and alighted at the door of a tavern. 
While discussing a hot breakfast of venison steaks and coffee, I could not refrain 
from relating my adventure of the night, and asking if atight was known of the 
solitary stranger. 

"Oh, my dear young sir!" cried the landlady, "have yon never heard of our 
Blue Mountain Hermit ?" and quietly refilling my cup of coffee, she commenced a 
story, which, omitting her somewhat tedious recapitulations, I will repeat as briefly 
as possible. The hut I had observed not far from the cave, was once inhabited 
by an old man and his daughter; it was generally understood that he had been a 
soldier of no mean repute in the war of the American Revolution, and the Indian 
war that followed. Rewarded by his country like too many others, with poverty 
and neglect, he had withdrawn from the world to this lonely spot. His leisure 
hours were devoted to the instruction of his daughter, who grew up most lovely in 
person, and in mind all that a fond parent could wish. It chanced that an officer 
of Macpherson's troop of Jersey Blues, who were dispatched to attack the rioters at 
the time of the western or whisky insurrection in this State, fell from his horse 
while passing this place and was severely injured. He swooned from the loss of 
blood. On his recovery he found himself on a bed in the cottage. He could 
scarcely credit his senses, when he saw a beautiful face, animated by an expres- 
sion of pity and sympathy, bending over him. An old man came in from the 
spring with water, and dressed the sufferer's wounds with much skill ; the young 
girl prepared and administered a composing draught. 

The stranger owed his life to the care of the father and daughter. He slowly 
recovered ; and it was with a perpetual astonishment that he discovered every day 
some new charm in his youthful nurse. A girl of superior education in the heart 
of such a forest ! Was it surprising that he became deeply enamored of her? It 
would have been strange if she had not returned his passion, for he was in the 
prime of life, handsome, pleasing in address, and a soldier. Weeks passed, and 
the stranger could no longer even feign illness as an excuse for lingering. He said 
not a word of his intended departure, but it was a matter of course. 

He and his kind entertainer had a long conversation the evening before his 
departure ; but it concerned the state of the country, in which the old man felt a 
deep interest. Alice — that was the maiden's name, joined not in their discourse, 
and it was only by chance, while busied about her work, that the officer discovered 
she was weeping bitterly. 

He arose betimes and went forth next morning. On the brow of the hill above 
the cottage was a rock covered with thick green moss, and shaded by tall pines. 
The officer saw Alice go up to this rock ; he followed her. He was startled to see 
how pale and sad she looked ; but he endeavored to speak cheerfully of his de- 
parture, and asked what he should send her from the city. " Nothing can please 
me when you are gone," sobbed the poor girl, and with a passionate burst of tears 
she threw herself upon the ground and buried her face in her hands. 

The stranger felt as if his heart was torn in twain. He had won the love of a 
fair young creature, whom he could never make happy, for he was already mar- 
ried. What return for the kind hospitality of his kind host ! He dashed his hand 



THE BLUE MOUNTAIN HERMIT. 333 

against his forehead in self-reproach. The truth must be told to the beautiful girl 
before him. He knelt at her feet and told in wild and broken words of his deep 
love — of his despair ; then, starting up, rushed away without daring to look upon 
her again. 

" You would have wept," said the landlady, wiping her eyes with a corner of 
her apron, " to see the poor young creature deserted, and fading like a blighted 
flower." She was always delicate as a fairy, with bright blue eyes, and cheeks as 
fair as the white rose. She soon ceased to interest herself in the affairs of the 
house, but would sit for hours listless at tbe door, or wander away through the 
woods by herself. 

Poor Alice was drowned in the stream one night, that she had gone out without 
her father's knowledge. The old man kept his wo to himself, and refused to accept 
the bounty of his neighbors. His chief pleasure was to visit her grave, which 
they dug, at his request, at the top of the hill. 

It was but a few months after her death that a stranger passed through the 
valley on horseback. He was earnest in his inquiries after the old man and his 
daughter. It was the Philadelphia officer whose life they had saved ; he was 
dressed in deep mourning, and had widower's weeds on his hat. Who can de- 
scribe his emotions when he found, instead of the lovely young bride he came to 
seek, her freshly sodded grave ? Her father — grief had reduced him to a state of 
idiocy. He was no longer able to provide himself with daily bread. The stranger 
built himself a rude cell and dwelt there alone, providing secretly for the wants of 
the bereaved father, who, in his mental imbecility, never thought of asking whence 
came the plentiful provisions ; or who hired the servant that waited on him. 

"It is two years," continued the old lady, "since the old man died." A large 
number of country people attended his funeral. A stranger dressed in black of 
fashionable appearance mingled among them ; few recognized in this well-dressed 
stranger the recluse who lived so long in the forest. 

Such was the landlady's story. A love-tale so romantic might have suited the 
ruins of some feudal castle under Italian skies. Its tragedy has been enacted in 
the depth of an American forest ! Surely the passion is well named universal ! 

" Some years after, in passing through the valley, I felt curious to learn what 
had become of the recluse of the Shades of Death. None could give me informa- 
tion. He had left the scene of his sorrows and his repentance. A neat church 
has been erected by the honest and thriving settlers, upon the very spot where 
the hermitage stood. I learned that it was a favorite custom with the country 
maidens to go and strew with flowers the grave of the unfortunate Alice." 



MAUCH CHUNK. 1 

Mauch Chunk, the seat of justice of Carbon County, was incor- 
porated as a borough in 1850. The town is situated on the right 
bank of the river Lehigh, four miles above Lehighton. It is forty- 
six miles by railroad, and forty-six by canal from Easton, one 
hundred and twenty-one miles by railroad, and one hundred and 
fifty-two by canal from New York, and eighty-nine miles by rail- 
road and one hundred and twenty-seven by canal from Philadelphia. 

The town occupies a small area at the confluence of the Mauch 
Chunk Creek and the Lehigh, and is nearly encircled by a chain 
of mountains, some of which attain an elevation of over a thousand 
feet. The face of these mountains, although covered with frag- 
ments of rocks, and displaying in many places huge precipices of 
great extent, is scattered over with trees and shrubs, which, in the 
summer season, spread their green canopy before the eye, obscur- 
ing the rough surface of the mountain, and forming a pleasing 
contrast with the white cluster of buildings which lie buried be- 
neath its shade. Previous to the year 1818 the spot where the 
town now stands was a perfect wilderness, covered with forest 

1 It is worthy of remark that the name of this place is very frequently spoken 
incorrectly by those who are not familiarly acquainted with its true pronunciation. 
Indeed, there is a very great variety in the manner of pronouncing it, especially 
by those living at a distance from the place ; and some who have only seen it 
written or printed, are even at a loss how to pronounce it at all. Among the 
amusing variety of ways in which it is spoken by persons at a distance, may be 
noticed the following: Maush Chunk, Mawtch Chunk, Mutch Chunk, and sometimes 
Mush Chunk, Mut Chunk, Mo Chunk, Mug Chunk, and Mud Chunk, and not unfre- 
quently Mud Junk. In various parts of the adjacent country, it is not uncommon 
to hear people when talking of going to the place, for the sake of brevity speak of 
going to Chunk, or down to the Chunk. For the information of those of our distant 
readers who do not know the correct pronunciation, we will state that it originated 
from the Indian word " Machk-tschunk," which signifies Bear's Mountain, and 
seems to be settled by established usage that it should be pronounced Mauk 
Chunk. 



COAL BEDS. 335 

trees and underbrush, affording a secure retreat and covert for the 
wild animals common to this mountainous region. It had been 
known for many years previous to this date that the Mauch Chunk 
Mountain contained anthracite coal, but up to this time every 
attempt which had been made to work the mines and convey coal 
to market had proved abortive, excepting that of Messrs. Miner, 
Cist & Robinson, who in 1813 had a lease on the mines, and sent 
the first coal to market. 1 In the winter of 1817, Josiah White and 
Erskine Hazard, having satisfied themselves of the advantages of 
anthracite coal as a fuel, by a series of experiments which they 
had made with it in the manufacture of iron wire, at the Falls of 
the Schuylkill, determined that Josiah "White should visit this 
region with a view to ascertain the extent of the coal beds and the 
facilities which the river Lehigh presented for a slackwater navi- 
gation. In this visit he was joined by George F. A. Hauto. The 
exploration was completed in a few weeks, and notwithstanding 
numerous obstacles presented themselves to the accomplishment of 
the enterprise which they had in view, such as the elevation of the 
coal beds, their distance from the Lehigh, the rapidity and turbu- 
lence of that stream, foaming and dashing over a confined and 
rocky bed for many miles, and varying its course to nearly every 
point of the compass, the general sterility of the country and the 
want of a convenient market, they determined on making a trial, 
and accordingly in 1818 Messrs. White, Hauto, and Hazard, com- 
menced operations in the immediate vicinity of Mauch Chunk. A 
glance at the country surrounding Mauch Chunk, even now would 
lead one to imagine the appearance of it when Messrs. White and 
Hauto made their first explorations forty-one years ago. It may 
not be uninteresting to state the situation of the country along the 
Lehigh, as they found it at that period. From Stoddartsville to 
Lausanne, a distance of thirty-five miles, there was no sign of a 
human habitation ; everything was in a state of nature. The ice 
had not yet left the shores of the river, which runs for almost the 

1 See interesting letter from Chas. Miner, in the history of the canal company, 
in this work. 



336 MAUCH CHUNK. 

whole of this distance, in a deep ravine between hills from four 
hundred to one thousand feet high, and so abrupt that but few 
places occur where a man on horseback can ascend them. Above 
the gap in the Blue Mountain, there were but thirteen houses, in- 
cluding the towns of Lehighton and Lausanne (a small village one 
mile above Mauch Chunk) within sight from the river. The arrival 
at the site of Mauch Chunk was attended with great difficulty, and 
sometimes danger ; the road that passed through the " Narrows' 
below Mauch Chunk was so narrow as to admit of the passage of 
but one vehicle at a time, and for many years the precaution was 
taken to send word ahead to a place where such as came from the 
opposite direction could make halt and wait until passed. A gen- 
tleman who passed through here at that time for the purpose of 
examining into the practicability of the reported improvements, 
says, in his report : " The making of a good road is utterly im- 
possible, and to give you an idea of the country over which the 
road is to pass, I need only tell you that I considered it quite an 
easement when the wheel of my carriage struck a stump instead of 
a stone !" 

Such was the condition of the country when these enterprising 
and energetic men commenced their operations. They had to 
erect buildings for themselves and their hands, then make a road 
from the mines to the Lehigh, and then to aid the navigation of the 
Lehigh, by the erection of dams and bear-trap locks, so as to make 
a descending navigation. During the construction of the dams, 
the managers took up their quarters in a boat, which moved down- 
wards as the construction of the dams progressed. The hands 
employed had similar accommodations. The buildings erected 
that time consisted of a few small log and frame shanties for the 
laborers, and one, of somewhat larger dimensions, which was used 
as an office, store, and boarding-house. This building was occu- 
pied by Nicholas Brink, the steward, whose duty it was to traverse 
the neighborhood in quest of provisions. Then the tavern at 
Lehighton, and that at " The Landing," at the mouth of the Nis- 
quehoning Creek, were the nearest habitations ; the nearest post 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 337 

office was eight miles distant, through a perfect wilderness. We 
may imagine what difficulties the steward encountered in procuring 
the necessary provisions for the large number of men employed. 

The workmen, when taken into the company's employ, were 
each provided with a blanket, which, together with a board or 
plank, constituted their bed and bedstead. 

The son of Nicholas Brink, the steward, was the first child born 
in Mauch Chunk (1820), and was named Josiah White Erskine 
Hazard George F. A. Hauto Brink. The inhabitants considered the 
event worthy of public demonstration. "The forest was illumi- 
nated with pine torches, plenty of good, old, and pure whiskey 
was drank, and the noise and dancing were so great that it seemed 
as if the very tops of the pines had caught the infection, and kept 
time with it by waving to and fro." Mr. Brink still resides in 
Mauch Chunk. 

Through the kindness of Edwin Walter, Esq., of Philadelphia, 
the Secretary and Treasurer of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation 
Company, we were allowed the privilege of examining the first 
account book kept by the company. It is in the handwriting of 
Geo. F. A. Hauto, and is dated August 19th, 1818, the day on 
which the work was commenced. The book consists of about a 
hundred pages, and contrasts strangely with the large and ponder- 
ous books which the extensive and increasing business of the com- 
pany compels them to use at the present time. Besides containing 
the accounts of the company, it appears also to have been a regu- 
lar memorandum book, in which was kept a complete account of 
every transaction worthy of note. 

Among the very many interesting things it contains, we find the 
following (in the handwriting of Mr. Hauto), which is certainly a 
sign of the march of civilization: — 

Monday, Aug. 31st, 1818. Launched the "capstan scow." Twelve hands at 
work at dam No. 3, near Mauch Chunk Island, where we tried the first log dam. 
Mr. Thomas Ridgway's first expedition ended yesterday — the second begins to- 
morrow. The first rattlesnake was seen and killed by Mr. White, yesterday. 

AVe perhaps could not give a better description of the appear- 



338 MAUCH CHUNK. 

ance of the place in 1818 than will be found in the following com- 
munication from a visitor, to the Maucli Chunk Courier, of an early 
date. The writer appears to have been an intimate friend of the 
projectors of the enterprise. 

" And where is this Vale of Tempe, this terrestrial Paradise, which your descrip- 
tion and my imagination have pictured ?" said I to a dear friend of mine, as the 
Carriage entered a narrow defile among the mountains of the Lehigh. It was the 
fall of 1819, our road lay along the margin of the river ; it was broken and rough 
beyond any I had ever travelled ; the mountains appeared to have been cloven 
asunder, the impetuous Lehigh pitching in a torrent along their base ; huge frag- 
ments of the broken mountain overhung our path, and seemed to threaten our 
destruction ; here silence reigned even at noonday, interrupted only by the sullen 
roar of the waters, or the note of some lone and wandering songster. There was 
a solemn grandeur in the scene, but nought beside which could interest. Not a 
single comfort did it appear to afford the weary traveller. So narrow and rocky 
was the way that in several instances my companion had to leave the carriage to 
assure himself that no unfortunate wight had entered the defile in an opposite 
direction, as, in that case, we should have great difficulty in passing. 

" And is it possible," said I, "that you, who have lived in the abodes of civilized 
man, could ever have thought seriously of taking up your residence among these 
wild mountain passes. They appear to me to be better suited to the habits of a clan 
of Scottish Highlanders, or a band of lawless bandits, than to those of civilized 
life." " Yet the sublimity of the scene !" " True, I acknowledge I admire it — but 
can man live on the sublime — can the wild grandeur of these highlands support a 
population equal to your sanguine anticipations ? Were I ever to become a resi- 
dent here (which may Heaven avert), notwithstanding my fondness for the sub- 
lime, I would gladly exchange all romance of my situation for cultivated fields, a 
good road, an easy access to a market town, and an intelligent society." " Suppose 
all these advantages could be enjoyed here," said my opposer. " It can never be, 
never can these wilds support a civilized population, never can the rapid current 
of the Lehigh be made subservient to the purposes of commerce, never can this 
mountain pass be travelled with ease and safety ; such expectations are visionary, 
and those who embark their fortunes in such a project will, I am confident, end in 
disappointment and ruin." "Suspend your judgment a few years — you know not 
the hidden treasures of this region ; here is Mauch Chunk. This place," he con- 
tinued prophetically, " so unpromising in your estimation, contains even now the 
germs of future greatness, and will, at a period not far distant, be known beyond 
the Atlantic. Industry, Enterprise, Wealth, and Taste will unite their efforts, and 
the wild hills will not only be the abode of civilized but enlightened men. Two 
miles above this is Lausanne, a spot well remembered by the pioneers of the 
coal trade. There they located themselves ; at that place they embarked their 
little fortunes, and lost all in the attempt to convey the treasure of the country 
(anthracite coal) to a moneyed market. It was a noble project, but it was prema- 
ture. The sterling value of.this article was not known at that time to our citizens ; 
the mode of using it was novel, and nearly all abandoned it after the first trial ; 
purchasers were timid, and the little portion of the coal which escaped the rocks 
and rapids of the Lehigh, lay long at its destined mart waiting a sale. The expense 
of getting coal to market was found to be such as to raise its price above what 



APPEARANCE IN 1818. 339 

foreign coal could be purchased for, and their funds would not permit them to 
improve the navigation of the river, the frequent freshets were destructive to their 
embankments and wharves — their arks were frequently driven from their fasten- 
ings and stove to atoms. Disheartened, and poor in purse, they were forced to 
abandon the enterprise. But, I repeat, it was a noble project, and the operations 
of their more wealthy successors proves the assertion. The present company 
cannot fail of complete success." I listened in silence, but was still incredulous. 
I could see nothing in the present appearance of Mauch Chunk which promised 
future greatness ; on the river I beheld a few men, wet and weary, striving to 
repair a dam which the late freshet had demolished ; here and there was seen a 
miserable shanty for their accommodation ; beyond, a saw-mill almost buried in 
huge piles of logs ; now and then a group of savage-looking laborers, working at 
the road, who rested on their shovels and gazed upon us as we passed, as if a 1 car- 
riage was a rare sight in this neighborhood, and still further on, an inferior-framed 
building, which served for numerous purposes, viz : a dwelling for the gentlemen 
of the company, a capitol, exchange, market-house, and store. As we approached 
this building, a stranger emerged from its entrance and cordially greeted my com- 
panion ; he was a tall, long figure, with broad shoulders and slight stoop, lmbited 
in a leathern doublet — an enormous pair of jack boots and a fur cap — a leathern 
girdle encircled his waist, from which hung suspended several articles used by 
woodsmen; his features were sunburnt, and, as I fancied, ferocious. This surely, 
said I mentally, is the captain of the bandits. On an introduction, however, I 
found the manners of this personage were those of a gentleman, and in admiring 
his politeness, I almost forgot his ugliness. 

" You are a prisoner for the remainder of the day," said the stranger, " but be 
not alarmed at your forcible detention ; we have a custom here of obliging travellers 
to stop, as a remuneration to us, for the wholesome exercise they have had on the 
road ; but few of our friends pass this way, and we must make the most of those 
who fall in our power." 

There was no alternative ; we were ushered into the drawing-room, as he called 
it, and in a few minutes a variety of refreshments prepared. "And now," said he, 
" you must see some of the wonders of Mauch Chunk." " We have already beheld 
one of its most original and curious specimens," thought I. 

We wandered about the deep and romantic glen for several hours, very agree- 
ably entertained with projected improvements, roads, bridges, coal carriages, 
slackwater navigation, steamboats, etc. " But our plans are all in their infancy 
yet," said he ; and I verily believed they would remain so. 

"What is your opinion of Mauch Chunk now ?" said my companion, as we left 

the vale the next morning. "Unchanged." "And Mr. ?" "He is either 

influenced by an insatiable desire for wealth or fame, or if he really believes all 
these improvements practicable, he is a visionary theorist. The idea of making a 
town here is absurd; parties of pleasure on the Lehigh is an idea too ridiculous for 
comment." "But you have not seen the managers of this novel establishment," 
said my friend ; " they are very different men ; can discourse pleasantly of plans, 
establish new theories, and speculate on results, but none are ever permanently 
adopted, until tried by the standard of practical utility, and found to stand the 
test. They are men who reason with mathematical exactness, and never dismiss 
a subject under consideration until it is well understood, and every consequence 
emanating from it foreseen and provided for. To a common observer, the exten- 
sive project they have in contemplation may appear impracticable and visionary, 
but they have resources for every emergency ; intellect, wealth, and indefatigable 



340 MAUCH CHUNK. 

industry are united to aid theni forward, and I have no doubt but tbeir views and 
expectations will, ere long, be fully realized." "Assertion is not argument," said 
I. " I know that intellect, industry, and wealth can accomplish all that human 
agency can effect, but it will take a supernatural power to smooth the natural 
ruggedness of Mauch Chunk." " You are incorrigible," said my companion, "but 
time must decide upon our argument ; time must bring the proof." 

In 1827, after a lapse of eight years, we find our incorrigible 

friend again in Mauch Chunk, to use his own language : — 

The same grand mountain scenery appeared, but where was the rugged road, 
the fearful torrent, the silent glen ? all, all was changed, it seemed as if super- 
natural agency had indeed been busy. We rolled along our former way at the 
rate of six miles an hour with the utmost speed and safety. A fine smooth sheet 
of water met our view as we entered the town, across which was thrown a slight, 
picturesque bridge, and instead of solitude and silence, our ears were greeted with 
the busy hum of voices, intermingled with the various sounds of mechanical 
engines in successful operation. The town appeared to be an enchanted city. I 
almost feared to advance, lest the spell should be broken and the vision disappear. 
Here, a fine hotel affording accommodation to numerous visitants, there, a beauti- 
ful mansion house met my admiring gaze. A spacious stone building was pointed 
out to me as the office and store. As we proceeded on our promenade, a fine street 
opened upon us ; uniform rows of stuccoed buildings inclosed it ; on either side, 
neat sidewalks ; everything, in short, bespoke neatness and comfort. " Do you 

remember your walk with to the Bear Trap ?" said my companion. "Yes, 

indeed, for it cost me a pair of shoes." " This is the spot, and the site of that 
beautiful street is the deep morass which lay on our left." "And what is that 
noise ?" said I, alarmed ; " is the Lehigh bursting its artificial barriers, or is it the 
rush of a mighty whirlwind on the mountain ?" " Neither," said my companion ; 
" look, quick, above you ! behold the coal cars on the railroad, loaded with the 
inexhaustible wealth of Mauch Chunk ! see the ease, the rapidity with which 
this is conveyed from its subterranean storehouse among the everlasting hills, 
deposited in boats exactly suited to the navigation of the river, and this by the 
power of machinery only. Observe, the coal is not handled from the time it leaves 
the mine until it arrives in Philadelphia. We will now ascend the hill ; you see 
that fine, smooth watercourse in the distance ; this is the commencement of a canal, 
destined in a few years to waft back the boats with return cargoes, which will 
furnish Mauch Chunk and the adjacent country at a cheap rate with all the 
elegancies of the city. These are not the speculations of a visionary theorist ; they 
are palpable facts — sober realities. Now, let us anticipate a little, let us imagine 
another link in the grand chain of improvements finished, viz., a canal which shall 
connect the waters of the Susquehanna with those of the Lehigh, and then tell 
what you think of the greatness of Mauch Chunk." " Say no more, I am convinced, 
your predictions have been more than realized, intelligence has conquered preju- 
dice ; the pigmy has grown into a giant, whose power will be felt beyond these 
hills. Your Mauch Chunk is certainly the wonder of the age."* 

The improvement of the town had thus far been marked only 
by the progress and limited by the extent of the trade which first 

* We would refer the reader to the history of the canal company for much in- 
teresting matter in regard to the early history of Mauch Chunk. 



IMPROVEMENTS. 841 

brought it into existence, and few investments had been made in 
the erection of houses and business establishments, in anticipation 
of the future. The houses and shops had all been constructed to 
accommodate the circumstances of the laboring community, and with 
less regard to taste and elegance, than convenience and economy. 
With the exception of the company's offices, store, and hotel, 
which were plain but spacious stone buildings, they were generally 
small, having two rooms on a floor, and two stories high, some of 
them plastered or stuccoed on the outside, which gave them a very 
uniform and neat appearance. The town, in 1832, contained about 
one hundred and fifty dwellings and shops of every description, 
and supplied a resident population of about one thousand inhabit- 
ants. It had one church, four schools, one printing office, two 
stores, one hotel, one iron foundry, and car manufactory, and a 
cast steel axe manufactory. The dependencies of the Coal and 
Navigation Company at that time, at and near Mauch. Chunk, gave 
employment to about four hundred men, principally miners, who, 
together with their families, constituted an aggregate population of 
about two thousand souls for Mauch Chunk and its branches. The 
company at length, by a steady perseverance in their hazardous 
enterprise for more than fourteen years, and at an expenditure of 
two and a half millions of dollars, brought to a conclusion their 
magnificent scheme of improvement, and were prepared to meet, 
with a supply of coal, the increasing demand of the market. With 
their accustomed liberality they threw open to public enterprise 
so much of their property as the public were likely to feel inte- 
rested in, and effected sales to individuals of a large proportion of 
the town plot of Mauch Chunk, improvements upon which, at pri- 
vate cost, and for private purposes, had been commenced, and were 
prosecuted with great spirit and activity. 

From that time to the present the town has continued to in- 
crease, until it has justly acquired the celebrity of an active busi- 
ness place, as well as become a fashionable and favorite summer 
resort of the wealth and fashion of the Union. 

The population of Mauch Chunk, in 1830, was 700; in 1840, 



342 MAUCH CHUNK. 

1200; 1850, 2557; and at the present time, nearly 6000, showing 
an immense increase for the last ten years ; the number of hand- 
some private residences, stores, and public buildings, have increased 
in proportion ; the general appearance of the town has also greatly 
improved. There is, at this time, five churches in the place, most 
of which are neat and elegant structures. They are as follows: — 

Presbyterian, Rev. J. A. Hodge, Pastor. 
Methodist, " Wm. Major, " 

German Reformed, " E. A. Bower, " 

Episcopal, " H. Baldy, Rector. 

Roman Catholic, " J. O'Shannesy, Priest. 

The cause of education has also kept pace with the increase of 
inhabitants. The number of public schools at this time is eight, 
which are attended by 295 male, and 276 female scholars; the ex- 
tensive edifice in which the schools are held, was erected in 1839 ; 
it is a plain and substantial brick building, and well adapted for 
the purpose. The Park Seminary — a private day-school for girls — 
is also well attended. The public schools, under the direction of 
T. L. Foster, the county superintendent, have been ably and faith- 
fully conducted. Mauch Chunk Bank, the only institution of its 
kind in the place, was incorporated on the 30th of March, 1855, and 
commenced business Oct. 1st of the same year; capital $200,000, 
paid in $100,000. This institution is considered one of the sound- 
est in the State; from its commencement to the first day of Octo- 
ber, 1859, it has earned 41 per cent., and paid to its stockholders 
dividends amounting to 33 per cent. The officers are Hiram "Wolf, 
President, A. "W. Leisenring, Cashier. Mauch Chunk also pos- 
sesses an excellent set of gas-works, the buildings of which are 
located on the western bank of the Lehigh, below the town. The 
Company was incorporated in 1854, with a capital of $25,000. 
The manufacture of gas was commenced in 1856; since then, most 
of the private dwellings, stores, and public buildings, as well as the 
streets, have been lighted with it. The President is Jacob H. Sal- 
keld; Secretary and Treasurer, David Treharn. There are perhaps 
few places that enjoy so great and constant a supply of pure spring 
water as Mauch Chunk. The Mauch Chunk Water Company was 



FIRE AND MILITARY COMPANIES. 343 

incorporated in 1849, with a capital of $15,000; they are at pre- 
sent declaring a semi-annual dividend of 5 per cent. The reservoir 
of the Company is situated at the extreme western end of the town, 
at an elevation of near two hundred feet above the level of the 
streets, and is supplied by a large spring of pure, cold water, which 
flows into it without the aid of any machinery, or pumping appa- 
ratus; this spring gives an abundant supply for domestic use, but 
the reservoir is so arranged, that in case a larger supply should be 
needed for the extinguishment of fire, &c, the Mauch Chunk Creek, 
which runs close by, can be turned into it, and thus furnish an 
abundance of water. The officers are E. A. Douglass, President; 
Asa Packer, Treasurer; Samuel C. Williams, Secretary. Mauch 
Chunk also has an excellent fire department, consisting of three 
hose companies, viz., Anthracite, No. 1; Diligent, No. 2; Marion, 
No. 3. Owing to the elevated position of the reservoir, the water 
issues from the fire plugs with an immense force, and throws a pow- 
erful stream of water through fire hose and pipe, over the highest 
buildings in the place, consequently fire engines, for the purpose 
of forcing water, are entirely dispensed with. 

" There is still a relic of former times, in the shape of a fire engine, to be seen 
in Upper Mauch Chunk ; this engine was used and did good service at the great 
conflagration which occurred at Mauch Chunk on the 15th of July, 1849. The 
fire broke out about nine o'clock on the morning of that day, and raged violently 
for several hours, and in consequence of a high wind, which was blowing at the 
time, and the wan1> of a sufficient supply of water (the waterworks were not yet 
completed) it extended to both sides of the street, and in its devouring course 
destroyed the court-house, jail, and county offices, Conner's Hotel, the printing 
offices of the Carbon Democrat and Carbon County Gazette, besides some twenty- 
five stores, shops, and private residences, and a large quantity of merchandise. 
The whole loss was estimated at about $150,000." 

The military spirit of Mauch Chunk is perhaps unsurpassed by 
any other place of its size, in the State ; there are at this time four 
volunteer companies, viz: — 

Cleaver Artillerists, , Captain. 

Cleaver Independent Rifles, Eli Connor, " 

Irish Infantry, Patrick Sharkey, " 

German Jaegers, I. Glosser, " 

The companies are well disciplined, and are commanded by com- 



344 MAUCH CHUNK. 

petent and faithful officers; should their services ever be needed for 
the defence of their country, we doubt not they would acquit them- 
selves with the same honor as did their illustrious predecessors, the 
Stockton Artillerists, in the Mexican war. It perhaps will not be 
out of place (we are certain it will not prove uninteresting to our 
readers in this neighborhood), to give a short sketch of this com- 
pany from their organization to the time of their return from 
Mexico. 

" The Stockton Artillerists were an organized corps several years previous to the 
Mexican war. Their first captain was John Leisenring, next Jos. H. Siewers, and 
last James Miller. At the breaking out of the Mexican war, the company offered 
their services and were accepted by Gov. Shunk. Considerable excitement pre- 
vailed several days previous to their departure ; friends of the company in the 
county collected the sum of $1,500, while the ladies of Mauch Chunk made and 
presented to the company over three hundred flannel and check shirts inside of 
three days. 

" On the 24th of December, 1846, the company, by conveyances furnished by 
the citizens, and accompanied by a large committee, proceeded on their route for 
Pittsburg (the place of rendezvous previous to being mustered into the service). 
On their arrival at Tamaqua they were met by the Deputy Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth, countermanding the order of acceptance, the reason assigned was that 
the Second Regiment was full. A meeting was at once held by the company, and 
it was unanimously resolved that the company proceed to Philadelphia, and offer 
their services to the President (taking Pottsville on their route, where they met 
kind treatment). After remaining in Philadelphia several days, they were ac- 
cepted. Accompanied by the Hon. Asa Packer and William H. Butler, they con- 
tinued their route to Pittsburg, via Baltimore and Cumberland, paying over nine 
hundred dollars fare, besides other expenses amounting to several hundred dollars, 
which the general government never refunded. Arriving at Pittsburg January 
1st, 1847, they were then mustered into service by the late Lieut. H. B. Field. 
They were the last company accepted, and the first on the ground to be mustered 
into service of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, number eighty-four all told. 
The officers were — Captain, James Miller; 1st Lieut., Hiram Wolf; 2d Lieut., 
Robert Klotz ; Second 2d, James McKeen, Jr.; 1st Sergeant, Thomas R. Crellin. 
After being mustered, they were shipped to New Orleans, and encamped some 
seven miles below the city, on Jackson's famous battle ground, arriving there on 
Monday, January 18th, 1847 ; they pitched their tents, and everything passed 
pleasantly for several days, when it commenced raining, and by Saturday, the 23d, 
one o'clock at night, there were fifteen inches of water all over the camp ground. 
The troops were obliged to seek shelter where best they could. No house within 
a mile of the camp ground except a French planter's, who had given his for a hos- 
pital. The companies dispersed, some to the city, others to the nearest houses 
and huts they could find. After considerable suffering from the wet and cold, 
they were in most instances refused admission, and altogether treated rather 
badly. This state of things did not last long ; they were soon ordered on board 
the transport ship ' Ocean,' Willard, Master, and sailed for Lobos Island, encoun- 




£NG? BY JOHN SARTAJN;—PHIL ~- 



ILMA P4 G K I I 




at 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS, NEWSPAPERS, ETC. 345 

tering heavy gales, and also had considerable suffering ; landed on Lobos Island, 
on Saturday, February 13th, remained there nearly two weeks ; from there ordered 
to Vera Cruz, and landed under General Patterson, on the 9th day of March, 1847, 
on the shores of Mexico. Next day, thermometer 109 degrees, they were initiated 
into active service, by skirmishes, &c, among the sand hills. The company par- 
ticipated in all the active engagements, commencing at Vera Cruz and ending in 
the City of Mexico. Their conduct and services, during all the engagements, is 
part of our country's history, and needs no recapitulation at our hands. At the 
close of the war, after having had nineteen months' active service, the remnant 
of the company returned to Pittsburg, where they were all honorably discharged. 
The fate of war reduced the ranks, by killed, wounded, and disease, less than one- 
half the original numbers. They arrived in their native town in due course of 
time, having been greeted and feasted in every town and hamlet through which 
they passed, by none more so than by the citizens of Mauch Chunk and vicinity, 
who were the last to leave them on the borders of the State, and the first to greet 
them on their return. After having partaken of the hospitalities extended to them 
by the citizens of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton, they returned to Mauch 
Chunk and disbanded. Some went to one place and some to another. Twenty- 
three of the original number found a soldier's grave in Mexico ; and of those dis- 
charged in consequence of wounds and disease contracted in the country, sixteen 
died in the States. There are nine remaining in the county ; four in California ; 
two in New Mexico ; one in Chili ; one in Honolulu ; a few in Philadelphia ; three 
in Wyoming Valley; one in New York; one in Milton; the remainder scattered." 

Mauch Chunk has several very fine public buildings, such as the 
Gourt-House, Odd Fellows' Hall, Mechanics' Hall, and the Town 
Hall, which are used for lectures, concerts, and meeting-rooms for 
the different societies ; among the societies may be mentioned the 
Masons, Odd Fellows, Druids, American Mechanics, several bene- 
volent societies, Christian associations, and missionary societies. 

There are three newspapers published in Mauch Chunk, viz : 
Carbon County Gazette, Higgins& Eauch, Editors; Carbon Democrat, 
W. P. Struthers, Editor ; Carbon Adler (German), E. A. Eauch, 
Editor. The Carbon County Gazette was originally called the Le- 
high Pioneer and Mauch Chunk Courier. It was commenced in 1829 
by Amos Sisty, and was the first paper published in Mauch Chunk. 
We are indebted to it for much of our information concerning the 
early history of the place. The Carbon Democrat was commenced 
in 1846 by Enos Tolen, and was published regularly by him until 
within the last two years, when the establishment was purchased 
by the present enterprising editor and publisher. The number of 
manufacturing establishments has increased but little during the 
24 



346 MAUCH CHUNK. 

last twenty years; at this time, the following are the principal 
ones. 

One foundry, machine shop, and car manufactory. J. H. Salkheld & Co. 

One foundry and machine shop. Allb right & Co. 

Two iron forges. Jacob Gilger; Gr. W. Smith. 

One screen and wire factory. Gr. W. Smith. 

One wire rope manufactory. Fisher, Hazard & Co. 

One steam flour mill. A. Robison. 

Three boat yards. Josiah Enbody ; C. Kocher ; E. Bower. 

Two shoe manufactories. F. C. Kline ; W. H. Stroh. 

Besides the above establishments — the most of which are very 
extensive — the machine and repair shops of the Lehigh Canal and 
Navigation Company, and the car repair shops of the Lehigh Val- 
ley Eailroad Company are located here, which, together with the 
others, give employment to a large number of mechanics. 

In 1825, Messrs. "White and Hazard erected a blast furnace in Mauch Chunk; it 
was small in size, and the fuel used was charcoal. A series of experiments were 
instituted by Mr. White, for the purpose of smelting iron from the ore, by the use 
of anthracite coal. As early as 1826 he conceived the idea of using a heated blast 
for that purpose ; to accomplish this, he passed the blast through a close room 
heated with stoves ; by this arrangement he succeeded in making the blast warm, 
but not sufficiently hot to accomplish what he desired ; this furnace was finally 
abandoned and another of larger dimensions erected near the site of the old one. 
As charcoal was used in this furnace, we may infer that the experiments tried by 
Mr. White to substitute anthracite were not successful. This furnace, since its 
erection, has repeatedly passed into different hands, and after the discovery of the 
hot blast (in 1837), was altered to an anthracite furnace. It is now used as a 
foundry. In 1838, an anthracite furnace was erected just below Mauch Chunk, 
on the strip of land running between the canal and river, by Messrs. Boughman, 
Guiteau & Lowthrop ; the first iron was made by this furnace in October of that 
year ; it afterwards changed hands, and was finally abandoned. The works are 
still standing, and remind one of a dilapidated castle. 

The principal business of Mauch Chunk is that connected with 
the coal landing, and the mining operations in the vicinity. It 
would require a small volume to describe all the curious and inte- 
resting objects to be seen here. The coal mines, the inclined 
planes, and all the machinery and appliances necessary for mining, 
transporting, and shipping coal, may be seen on a large and im- 
proved scale; while the pure mountain air, gushing fountains of 
the coldest and purest water, with beautiful views of wild and sub- 
lime mountain scenery, give additional charms to the place. The 



HOTELS, CANAL BOATS, ETC. 347 

hotels, of which there are five, are large and well arranged, and 
have ample and comfortable accommodation for travellers and tour- 
ists in search of the picturesque, or of relaxation amid the pure air 
of the mountains. The American and Broadway Hotels are situ- 
ated on the principal street. The Mansion House stands just on 
the river's edge, the street alone intervening, while close at its 
back Bear Mountain towers up, covered with a dense forest growth, 
through which, however, a path has been cut, leading to the top of 
the mountain, whence a magnificent prospect may be had down the 
valley of the Lehigh. The roar of the river, as it rushes over the 
dam just above the hotel, and goes foaming along over the rocks, 
and under the bridge, has a delightfully lulling effect. The boats 
constantly passing upon the Lehigh canal, which winds along, fol- 
lowing the course of the river, in front of the house upon the oppo- 
site bank ; and the long trains of coal cars ever rolling past, laden 
with their black and shining freight, or returning empty for new 
loads, add life and interest to the scene. The principal street runs 
back at right angles to the river, in the valley between Mount Pis- 
gah on the north, and Bear Mountain on the south, and the latter 
shuts out the view from the hotel; but Bast Mauch Chunk, upon 
the opposite side of the Lehigh, above the dam, is plainly in view. 
An object of some interest to strangers is the weigh-lock on the 
canal, about half a mile below the hotel, where the loaded boats 
are weighed as they pass down on their way to a market. A re- 
gister of the names and numbers of all the boats used on this 
canal is kept at the weigh-lock. More than two thousand boats are 
entered upon this register, and it is curious to see the great variety 
of names given to the boats by their owners, and how frequently 
some names are repeated. The Marys — simply " Mary," and then 
" Mary Jane," and "Mary Elizabeth," and " Mary Ann" — are great 
favorites. " Anna," too, is a frequently recurring name ; while the 
military heroes come in for almost as great a share of popularity 
among the boatmen. The walk along the tow-path of the canal, 
and the wagon road through the " narrows," is delightful in the 
evening, when the rays of the sun, shut off from the nearer land- 



348 MAUCH CHUNK. 

scape by Bear Mountain, strike the tops of the more distant hills 
down the valley, and light their summits with a golden blaze, while 
all beneath is dark with the shades of approaching night. 

Mauch Chunk in itself has many attractions ; the streets are broad 
and clean, the pavements wide and kept in good order, and, what 
is a great acquisition to any place, is its system of sewerage ; the 
Mauch Chunk creek, which runs parallel with the principal street, 
and which is arched over the greater part of the distance, prevents 
the accumulation of any matter deleterious to health ; add to this 
an abundant supply of the purest spring water, which is intro- 
duced throughout most of the dwellings ; the streets, stores, hotels, 
and private houses lighted with gas; the beautiful walks, the plea- 
sant drives, the excellent carriage roads, the gravity railroads, and 
above all the good fellowship, the genial hospitality, the quick 
intellect, the rapid appreciation, and the racy humor of its citi- 
zens — all tend to lead one to the opinion as expressed by a cele- 
brated man, who annually visits the place, "That Mauch Chunk 
has no duplicate upon earth, so decided are its peculiarities; it lies 
in what has happily been called 'The Switzerland of Pennsyl- 
vania.' It is a place which everybody has visited, will visit, or 
ought to visit. You may have fleeted your hour at Saratoga, 
stood wonder stricken over Niagara Falls, sailed over all the lakes 
and what not in the country ; you may have made a tour to 
Europe, circumnavigated the globe, but after all, if you have not 
passed through the Lehigh Gap, tarried at Mauch Chunk, and 
been whirled down the mountain and up the planes to the summit, 
you have not seen everything by a great sight. In short, you 
must either go to Mauch Chunk, or forego all claim to the cha- 
racter of a finished tourist." 

The first place naturally visited by strangers, is the far-famed 
Mount Pisgah, which rises like a monarch of the hills, and is 
ascended by a very steep, and apparently perilous " inclined rail- 
road plane," in cars drawn up by a stationary steam-engine. 

For the convenience and edification of the tourist, we will ac- 
company him on a tour from Mauch Chunk over the planes and 



. .::.<: \ 




^ 





GRAVITY AND SWITCH-BACK RAILROADS. 34£ 

the gravity railroad to Summit Hill, thence around the celebrated 
" switch-back railroad," through Panther Creek Valley to the coal 
mines, and return ; draw his attention to the numerous objects of 
interest, explain — as far as our humble abilities will allow — the 
various mechanical contrivances, and, in fact, give a general de- 
scription and history of the route ; we shall call it 

A TRIP OVER THE GRAVITY AND SWITCH-BACK RAILROADS. 

There are several regular passenger trains run over the road every day, for the 
accommodation of the travelling public, but as we shall require more time in our trip 
than is generally allowed in those trains, we will engage a private car, and do our own 
running. We will ascend the hill on foot, as it will afford us a better opportunity 
of noticing the many mechanical contrivances for the loading of boats, &c. &c. ; 
before starting, we would state that Maueh Chunk is 520 feet above tide-water at 
Philadelphia. After leaving the hotel, we pass the court-house, jail, and county 
offices, situated at the foot of the hill, which we are about to ascend by the wagon 
road which leads to an elevated plateau, at the foot of the great plane ; in our 
course we pass the beautiful mansion (with its serpentine walks, and sparkling 
fountains), of the superintendent of the Lehigh Canal, and further up the hill the 
schutes, by which the coal is conveyed from the top to the foot of the hill, where 
it is deposited into boats ; we will pass by them, and ascend still higher, to the 
top of the plateau, where are located the station-houses, from where the cars are 
started. Here we find an extensive tract of flat land, upon which is built quite a 
village — it is called Upper Mauch Chunk ; we are now 215 feet above the river; the 
extensive repair shops of the Canal Company are located here. The beautiful 
cemetery, belonging to the different congregations of the borough, is also situated 
here. If we remain here a short time, we will find train after train of coal arriv- 
ing from the mines (in Panther Creek Valley), over the gravity road from Summit 
Hill ; every train is composed of ten cars, each car containing from three to five 
tons, the whole under the control of a single man, or " runner," as they are here 
called, who regulates their movements by a very simple contrivance. A perpen- 
dicular lever causes a piece of wood to press against the circumference of each 
wheel, on the same side of the car, acting both ways from the central point between 
them, so that by increasing the pressure the friction retards or stops the motion, 
and as all the levers are connected by a wire rope they are made to act in concert 
by the runner, who is seated on the hindmost car, with a windlass on which the 
rope is wound. 

The road they have just come over was originally a turnpike, over which the 
coal was brought to Mauch Chunk in wagons, holding about four tons each, and 
drawn by two horses. The amount of coal sent to market increased very rapidly, 
when this mode of conveyance was found slow and expensive, as well as inade- 
quate to fill the increasing orders ; it was also difficult to keep the road in order, 
without coating it with stone ; it was thought that the best economy would be to 
convert it into a railroad, which was commenced in January, 1827, and completely 
in operation in May of the same year. This railroad was the second of any extent 
ever constructed in the United States, and for many years attracted the attention 
of travellers on this account. In 1827, there were 32,074 tons of coal carried over 
this road; during the present year (1859), there have been 450,000 tons carried 



350 MAUCH CHUNK. 

over it — quite an increase you will admit. In 1827, and up to 1845, the trains 
consisted of fourteen cars, each containing about two tons, and guided by a single 
man, the same as at present. The empty cars or wagons were then drawn back 
to the mines on the same track, by mules, eight to a train of fourteen coal wagons. 
Twenty-eight mules drew up forty-two coal, and seven mule wagons ; the arrange- 
ment was so made that the ascending parties should arrive in due season, at the 
proper places for turning out. The mules rode down the railway, and were fur- 
nished with provender, placed in proper mangers, four of them being inclosed in 
one pen, mounted on wheels. The mules readily performed their duty of drawing 
up the empty cars, but having experienced the comfort of riding down, they 
seemed to regard it as a right, and very reluctantly descended any other way. 
Frequently seven of these mule cars were connected into one group, so that twenty- 
eight mules constituted the party, which with their heads directed down the moun- 
tain, and apparently surveying the fine landscapes, moved rapidly along the in- 
clined plane with a ludicrous gravity, which, when seen for the first time, would 
prove too much for the severest muscles. Circumstances like this gave zest and 
piquancy to the inspection of the works, the relish of which was enhanced by the 
beauty and sublimity of the surrounding scenery. No wonder, then, that visitors 
were attracted to this place, and still less wonder is it f that the number of visitors 
has increased, in as great a proportion as the attractions have multiplied. 

But to return ; when the cars arrive here, they are separated, and run into the 
station-house, separately, on to a turn-table at the head of the inclined planes ; 
these planes or schutes commence at the river, and ascend at the rate of one foot 
in three and a half of the slant ; the whole ascent to the plateau is 215 feet, and 
the slant 700 feet \ there are four of these planes running to the river, besides a 
sliding schute down which a smaller kind of coal is run at once to the depots from 
the entire height. These loaded cars descend the inclined planes ; the machinery 
by which their descent is governed is in the station-houses ; the most important 
part is a large cylinder, revolving horizontally, and serving to wind the rope at- 
tached to the cars. The rapidity of their progress is in a measure checked by the 
weight of an ascending empty car, attached to the other end of the rope, and 
moving on a parallel railway on the same plane. But this partial counterpoise is 
insufficient to moderate properly the speed of the descending car. This object is 
effectually gained by an iron band which clasps the drum, and which, compressed 
by a lever, controls its motion. When the car arrives at the foot of the plane, the 
lower end of the car is unbolted, and the coal is shot with great velocity into a 
hopper ; this conveys it directly into a screen which has three large chambers, 
through which coal of as many different sizes is riddled out, and shot by scuppers 
into as many different boats, waiting for different descriptions of the article. When 
the empty cars are drawn up from the screens to the top of the schutes, they run 
by gravity around the brow of the hill, to the foot of Mount Pisgah Plane, where 
we will now proceed ; by way of entertainment, as we wend our way along, we 
will relate to you an amusing circumstance which is said to have occurred at the 
schutes we have just passed. A few years ago, a Yankee, of the genuine breed, 
quite inquisitive, but more verdant than a Yankee should be, gained the station- 
house, and gazed with wonder at the contrivances. He peculiarly admired the 
swiftness with which the loaded car descended and emptied its load, and the velo- 
city with which it returned to give place to another. 

Shortly his attention was attracted by seeing a laborer mount one of the full 
cars, about to make a descent. 



a Yankee's ride. 351 

" Going to slide ?" inquired he. 

" Yes, going to chute," replied the laborer ; " won't you go ?" 

" Wall, I guess I'll stop a bit, and see you do it." 

The car swiftly descended, and ere it reached the hopper, the laborer jumped off 
safely. 

" Do you do that often ?" inquired he of one of the laborers in the station-house. 

" yes, continually," was the waggish answer. " You know most of the boat- 
men are single men, and as they often have orders for family coal, we always send 
down a married man with every car of that kind, to let 'em know." 

" Wall, now, du tell ?" uttered the eastern man. 

The more the Yankee looked at the apparatus, the more did he become convinced 
that it would be a great thing to go down the steep in that way — something he 
could tell " to hum." Plucking up courage, he approached the superintendent. 

" That beats sledding down hill, don't it ?" 

" I suppose it does." 

" You couldn't let a feller go clown, could you ?" 

" Why, do you think you can jump off in time ?" 

" yes, I'm reckoned considerable of a jumper ; jumpin' does me good. I once 
jumped off a haymow thirty feet high, and it made me so supple, that I'm give 
in to be the best dancer in the whole township." 

" Well, get on, and take care of yourself." 

Suddenly the car moved off, and our friend found the speed so fearful, and the 
declivity so great, that he was forced to stoop down and grasp the sides of his ve- 
hicle for support. The place where the laborer had leaped off was reached, but 
the Yankee was not in a position to jump ; he had to hold on, and running down 
a descent, three times as steep as that which he had come, a sudden click shot the 
bolt, and, with a violent force, out went the contents, Yankee included, into the 
hopper. 

" Murder ! get me oiit ! stop the consarn !" shouted our hero, as he felt himself 
sliding down the hopper to the cylinder. " Murder ! stop the consarn ! I'll be 
killed !" But the motive power of the "consarn" was water, which had no sym- 
pathy with those who pursue knowledge under difficulties, and those who saw 
were too distant, and too much convulsed with laughter, to yield assistance. Into 
the screen he slid, landing on the top, and as he felt himself revolving with the 
coal, he grasped the wires in desperation, to prevent himself from being rolled to 
the bottom ; around the wheel he went, and our friend's sensibilities were touched 
up by a plentiful shower of coal dust, riddled through from all the chambers. He 
managed to get one eye open, and saw with delight that the cylinder was only 
about fifteen feet in length, and he forced his way forward to the opening with 
desperation, but it was not altogether successful. Another revolution of the wheel 
had yet to be borne, and the next time he reached the bottom, he was shot out of 
the scupper into the boat beneath. 

To the screams of laughter with which his adventure was hailed, our hero said 
not a word, but drawing out an old handkerchief, rubbed the dust out of his eyes, 
and surveyed his torn apparel, and bruised, battered, and scratched limbs, " he 
raised his vein," to know as to what quality of anthracite he had been delivered ; 
when, smashing his remnant of a hat over his eyes, he stamped off, muttering — 
" Broken and screened, by thunder !" 

We have now arrived at the great plane ; you appear to be amazed at its im- 
mense height. Allow us to give you a slight history of it, and explain its design 
and modus operandi. 



352 MAUCH CHUNK. 

Some years since, Mr. Josiali White, we think, first conceived the idea of a return 
track, so constructed, that the cars, after being raised to an elevation sufficient to 
overcome the descent from the mines to the river, should return by their own gra- 
vity to the summit. The height of the mountain north of Mauch Chunk, and 
along which the old track was laid, was at that time ascertained to be nearly suf- 
ficient for this purpose, could the cars be raised to its highest point, and be placed 
upon a return track there. After these examinations and surveys, the project was 
for a time abandoned. 

In the spring of 1844, the great demand for coal rendered it necessary that the 
business of the Company should be extended beyond the capacity of the single 
track. Surveys were made, and the present back-track railroad was commenced, 
and completed ready for use in the fall of 1845. 

The design of this road is, as was mentioned above, to take empty cars back to 
the summit, which is about 1000 feet above the river at Mauch Chunk. 

The object is attained by raising the cars to the top of " Mount Pisgah," by means 
of a stationary engine, placed at the head of an inclined plane. This plane is 2,322 
feetlong, overcoming a perpendicular height of 664 feet. This, we are informed, is 
the greatest elevation overcome by any single plane in the world. Upon this plane 
are laid two tracks, and upon each track runs a " safety car," attached to a double 
iron band, each band four inches wide, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness. 
The safety cars are so arranged, that upon reaching the foot of the plane, they con- 
tract and run into a pit between the rails of the main track, so as to allow a train 
of coal cars to pass over them, upon the road descending towards the foot of the 
plane. 

The bands upon each track are attached to, and wind upon, iron drums at the 
head of the plane, 27 feet in diameter ; which drums are geared by segments 
extending around their peripheries to two 120 horse-power engines. They are also 
so arranged that either may be run alone, or both together. When both are in 
motion, the band attached to one winds up, while that attached to the other un- 
winds, thus drawing the safety car and train up on one track, while the safety car 
is let down upon the other track. 

To explain more clearly, suppose one safety car in the pit, at the foot of the 
plane, while the other is at the top of the plane, ready to descend. A train of 
cars having been passed over the safety car at the foot, and the signal given, the 
engine is set in motion, the safety car rises from its pit, is drawn up behind the 
train, and the whole move off toward the top of the plane, upon which they are 
landed in from six to eight minutes. In the mean time the safety car upon the 
other track has descended, and is ready to have another train passed over it, which 
in its turn it conveys to the top of the plane, while its comrade returns for a third 
train. 

We will remain here a few moments until the coal train which is coming from 
the schutes ascends the plain, as it will give us an opportunity of examining the 
machinery. You will notice the cars have run over the pit ; the watchman gives 
the signal to the engineer at the head of the plane by pulling the wire, at the 
upper end of which is attached a bell. We know he has received the signal by 
the pulling and jerking of the bands ; the safety car rises from the pit, and as it 
is drawn up behind the train, all of the cars begin to ascend, the watchman throws 
down a latch from the safety car, which fits into corresponding teeth on a safety 
rail between the two tracks. The teeth on this rail are so shaped that the latch 
on the car is allowed to pass freely over them in the ascent, but should either of 



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Awl. of HTOsbornBeAleW 



"P. S Duval &r Son's IrtH 7>}>il . 



T IS 



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AH FLAII AT 5^AU(0HI €MU 
Len^li 2322 feet. Elevation. 662 feet. 



GRAVITY AND SWITCH-BACK RAILROADS. 353 

the straps break, the car will remain stationary, as the least backward movement 
will cause the latch to fasten itself into the teeth ; you will see, therefore, that 
there is no possibility of an accident. As the train has already reached the top 
(it requires but eight minutes to ascend the plane), we will run our car over the 
pit and make the ascent. We are hitched on, the signal is given, the engines 
above move their ponderous propulsion, and we start, and in the words of a dis- 
tinguished tourist, "Up, up we go, until the mountain tops, which just now tow- 
ered above us, sink into the valleys and become pigmy hills, and the whole face 
of the surrounding country, in an immense circuit, opens under us like one vast 
flower bed, enriched with all the glowing garb of autumn, and glittering with a 
sunlight which intensifies every beauty and color. Novel emotions crowd upon 
the mind as the enchanting and exciting scene unfolds itself with new and almost 
appalling grandeur, as the summit is approached, and the soul is transported with 
awe as the great works of the Creator stand out in their imposing contrast to our 
littleness as we hang suspended, as it were, in mid-air." We have now reached 
the summit of Mt. Pisgah, and attained an elevation of 1370 feet above tide water. 
And now what a glorious, what a sublime, what a varied landscape, bursts upon 
the enraptured vision ! The Blue Mountains, the Lehigh Water Gap, through 
which may be seen far distant hills, including, on a clear day, Schooley's Moun- 
tains, in New Jersey ; in all other directions, mountains in long range, piled on 
other mountains ; beneath, the river, the towns, which look like a group of toy 
houses, but from which, and the river, ascend the busy sounds of industry, the 
voices of men, the whistling of steam-engines, the merry boatman's horn, the rat- 
tling of coal as it goes down the schutes into the boats, while, as a bass accompa- 
niment to this industrial music, there is a continuous rumbling of cars up and 
down the planes, and along the level railroads. While we are standing here, we 
would draw your attention to the great peculiarity of Mauch Chunkfwhich is, 
that there is scarcely any room for it to grow in ; the principal street, you will 
notice, extends for nearly a mile in the valley between Bear Mountain and the one 
we are now on. Mauch Chunk proper, for the want of room, has been augmented 
by two other Mauch Chunks— Upper Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk; 
Upper Mauch Chunk we passed through on our route to the plane. East Mauch 
Chunk, or the "Kettle," as it is usually called here, you will notice, is situated on 
the opposite side of the river, on an elevated plateau. It was incorporated into a 
borough in 1853, and contains at this time between five and six hundred inhabi- 
tants, a hotel, and several very excellent schools. A large number of handsome 
residences have been erected there, and it promises, at no very distant day, to 
rival the " Chunk" on this side of the river. But we must not linger, a vigorous 
push to our car, and away we go down the gravity road. 

We are now descending the hill on a grade of fifty feet to the mile. We will 
have time as we pass only to glance at the Old Tunnel mines, which are about two 
miles from Mauch Chunk. They are leased by Messrs. Michler, Coyningham & Co., 
of Easton, and are worked by Messrs. Cortright & Klotz, the latter of whom is 
entitled to write " late of Mexico " (and, "later still from Kansas") after his name 
in any deed or document. These mines raise and sell about 60,000 tons of coal 
annually. There is quite a village here, with a mining population of its own, 
chiefly Welsh, we believe. We pass nothing else worthy of particular notice until 
we arrive at the foot of Mt. Jefferson. We have now come the distance of a little 
over six miles, and have descended in that distance 302 feet. We must now 
ascend the plane on Mt. Jefferson, which is 2070 feet long, overcoming a height of 



354 MAUCH CHUNK. 

462 feet. The general arrangement of the plane is similar to that on Mt. Pisgah. 
The signal is given, and we reach the summit, from where we again descend for 
the distance of a mile, and arrive at Summit Hill, a town of several thousand 
inhabitants. There are several excellent hotels here for the accommodation of 
visitors. 

The celebrated Sioitch-Back Railroad commences here, and runs through Pan- 
ther Creek Valley to the different mines. We will make this trip, and on our 
return examine the curiosities of the town. We will now take our seats in an open 
car, from which we can better enjoy the view. Another push, and away we go 
down the first section of the switch-back, descending at the rate of 221 feet to the 
mile. But we now have a novel variation in the descent, instead of running in 
one direction down the side of the mountain to the bottom of the valley, the car 
zigzags back and forth, now we are riding with one end of the car in front, and 
then, as we change to another track, the other end of the car is in front. 

The change from one track to the other is made by a curious and ingenious self- 
acting arrangement, from which the entire road on this descent, from the summit 
to Panther Creek, takes its name of the Switch-Back Railroad. At every point 
where a turn or change in the direction is made, the two tracks (that is, the one 
descending in one direction, and the other continuing the descent at an angle with 
the first) come together like the angle at the top of a Y, and unite in one track, 
running out like the foot of the same letter. This one track, or the foot of the Y, 
however, has an ascending grade, up which the car is carried by the force of the 
momentum it has acquired in its downward course. As soon as this momentum 
is exhausted, of course the car begins to run down the ascent, but instead of run- 
ning back a little distance up the same road it has just before descended, the 
switch at the fork of the Y is arranged with a spring which adjusts the switch to 
the track which descends at an angle with the first, so that the car upon its 
descent from the single track continues on its way down the mountain. And so 
we go at a most rapid rate, now this way, now that way ; the breeze caused by the 
rapid motion renders it necessary for us to keep hold of our hats, bonnets, and all 
other matters liable to be carried away, now dashing round a curve at what seems 
a frightful speed, and now resting a moment as the switch-back changes our course, 
and again away with speed of the wind, we reach the bottom of the valley. Here 
we have leisure to rest ourselves and examine the coal-breakers before commencing 
our ascent. The grade of the track through this valley is 60 feet to the mile ; we 
pass by a number of coal-breakers, tunnels, and mining villages. You will notice 
here the rubbish has been deposited by successive loads, until nearly a hundred 
artificial hills have been made, radiating in all directions from the mines. These 
hills overtop the highest trees ; one of them, you will notice, has a reddish hue ; it 
has been on fire over twenty years, and has every prospect of burning until the 
end of time. Visitors are permitted to enter the mines, and are accommodated 
with a guide, but as our time is limited, we will be unable to satisfy our curiosity. 
Again starting our car, we arrive at the foot of what is called Panther Creek Plane, 
No. 2, the length of which is 2030 feet, elevation 250 feet. We are drawn up this 
plane, and again travel by force of gravity for several miles past artificial hills and 
mining villages, until we arrive at Panther Creek Plane, No. 1, the length of which 
is 2436 feet, and elevation 375 feet. We ascend this plane, and arrive again at 
our starting-point, Summit Hill. We have thus made a circuit of eight miles. 
The town of Summit Hill is situated 1485 feet above tide water, and contains 
(together with the small mining villages near it) about 5000 inhabitants, several 



ORIGINAL DISCOVERY OF STONECOAL. 355 

public schools, three churches (Presbyterian, Episcopal and Roman Catholic), two 
hotels, several stores, the extensive foundry and machine shop of Abbot & Sons, 
one military company, one brass band, and several secret and benevolent societies. 
There is also a large number of handsome private residences, and several fine public 
buildings. With the fine scenery, the many objects of interest in the neighbor- 
hood, the healthy and agreeable location, and the intelligence and hospitality of its 
inhabitants, the town has attracted many visitors. Perhaps one of the greatest 
curiosities in the neighborhood, and one which should be visited by every tourist, 
is the old mine or " quarry," the first which was worked by the Lehigh Company, 
it being the identical vein or deposit originally discovered by Ginther. The cir- 
cumstances connected with its discovery are these : — 

"In the year 1791, there lived on the eastern slope of the mountain a hunter 
named Philip Ginther. The country, for many miles around, abounded in game, 
and was clothed in dense primitive forest. On the occasion to which we are now 
referring, Ginther had spent the whole day in the woods without meeting the least 
success. He had left with anxious solicitude in the morning the cabin which 
sheltered his wife and children, for the scanty breakfast had impressed him with 
the necessity of replenishing the culinary department. As the shades of evening 
gathered around, he found himself on the summit of Sharp Mountain, several miles 
distant from his home. A storm of rain was advancing, and had already spent a 
few drops, when he began to quicken his pace. Running along at a brisk gait 
through the woods, he stumbled over the roots of a tree which had recently fallen, 
and threw before him a large black stone, to recognize which, and the black aspect 
of the spot around the roots, there was yet remaining sufficient light. He had 
heard persons speak of stonecoal as existing in these mountains, and concluded 
that this must be a specimen. He therefore took it with him, and a few days 
after gave it to Colonel Jacob Weiss, then living near the present site of Mauch 
Chunk. Unable to determine its real character, the specimen was forwarded to 
Philadelphia, where, after undergoing the scrutiny of sundry mineralogists and 
learned savans, it finally came into the hands of Mr. Charles Cist, a printer, who 
pronounced it stonecoal, and authorized the Colonel to satisfy Ginther for his dis- 
covery upon his pointing out the precise spot where he found the coal."* 

The Lehigh Company, until 1847, procured all the coal which they sent to mar- 
ket from this mine. The mine, for many years, constituted a great curiosity, and 
has attracted thousands of visitors. The vein of coal, including the accompanying 
seams of slate, was at one spot nearly seventy feet in thickness, though the ave- 
rage did not probably exceed fifty feet. The excavated portion embraces an area 
of about 20 acres, and extends to the depth of nearly 100 feet. From this source 
there were mined and sent away over 800,000 tons of coal. Here the coal veins 
are exposed to the light of day, and the various avenues are strewn with immense 
heaps and masses of it. To the visitor who gazes upon all that is left of the planes 
which once penetrated every part of the excavation, the deserted engine-houses, 
which are fast falling into decay, the immense heaps of rubbish, which are grad- 
ually increasing, and the huge breasts at which miners were employed, towering 
from fifty to eighty feet in the air, entirely separated and isolated from the adja- 
cent strata, with their tops still covered with forest foliage, and the trunk of an old 



* See History of Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company (in this work) for further 
particulars. 



356 



MAUCH CHUNK. 



tree occasionally left standing as a kind of monumental relic of the past, there are 
awakened sensations at once peculiar, novel, and interesting. 

Prof. Silliman, who visited these mines in 1830, says : " The coal is fairly laid 
open to view, and lies in stupendous masses, which are worked under open air, 
exactly as in a stone quarry. The excavation being in an angular area, and 
entered at different points by roads cut through the coal, in some places quite 
down to the lowest level, it has much the appearance of a vast fort, of which the 
central area is the parade ground, and the upper escarpment is the platform for 
the cannon." 

As the mine is easy of access, it is visited by many persons for the purpose of 
procuring specimens of fossil impressions, which are found here in abundance in 
the shales or slates accompanying the coal. Fern leaves and branches in innu- 
merable variety and quantity are found so perfectly impressed upon the soft mud 
in which they were buried, that the faintest lines of their delicate structure can 
be traced.* 

We will now return to the depot and commence our descent to Mauch Chunk, 
but instead of returning to Mt. Pisgah and being let down that plane, we dash 
along and down another gravity road on the side of the mountain (the history of 
which we have already given), acquiring a descending impulse by our own weight, 
and soon accomplishing the whole distance (eight and a half miles) to the town, 
having made a circuit in all of nearly 25 miles. 

For the convenience of our readers we append a table of distances, etc., which 
we have obtained from the engineer of the Company, Mr. D. Bertsch : — 

Length. Elevation. 

700 feet. 215 feet. 

2322 " 664 " 

2070 " 462 " 

2436 " 375 " 

2030 " 250 " 



Three shutes at Mauch Chunk, one sliding, 
Mt. Pisgah Plane, 
Mt. Jefferson Plane, 
Panther Creek Plane, No. 1, 
" No. 2, 

Mauch Chunk, above tide water, 
Mt. Pisgah, above Mauch Chunk, 
Mt. Pisgah, above tide water, 
Mt. Jefferson, " 

Summit Hill, " . 

Distance from Mt. Pisgah to Summit Hill, 
Distance around Switch- Back Railroad, &c, 
Distance from Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk, 

Average grade of road from Mt. Pisgah, 

Average grade of Switch-Back Railroad, 

Average grade of road through Panther Creek Valley 

Average grade of road from Summit Hill to Mauch Chunk, 

Whole descent from Mt. Pisgah to foot of Mt. Jefferson, 



520 feet. 

850 " 
1370 " 
1530 " 
1485 " 

8^ miles. 
8 " 
8§ " 

50 feet to the mile. 
221 " 

60 " 

96 " 

302 " 



Hundreds of interesting letters have been written from Mauch Chunk by tourists 
describing the scenery and other attractions of the place and neighborhood ; we 
have selected the following, which will, no doubt, prove interesting and entertain- 
ing to the reader. The first was written nearly thirty years ago, when Mauch 



* Visitors are provided with guides by applying to the conductors. 



r\"~j~ • ~ ~ ~ -? 3 ^„- 










SCENERY in 1830. 357 

Chunk was but little known to the travelling community, and before the celebrated 
planes were built or even thought of : — 

Match Chunk, August 10th, 1830. 

******** Y7e arrived at the starting-place on top of the hill 
just in time to witness the descent of two trains of wagons loaded with coal, fol- 
lowed by a train of cars conveying fourteen mules destined to haul back the wag- 
ons when discharged of their contents. I can hardly describe the sensations 
produced upon my feelings at the instant this novel spectacle burst upon my 
sight. I had taken a position upon the side of the road, and for several minutes 
had been listening to the distant thunder of the cars, gradually loudening upon 
the ear as they neared the place where I stood ; the earth trembled beneath my 
feet, and seemed to portend some dreadful convulsion of nature, when, in the 
twinkling of an eye, a hideous monster rushed from beneath the thick foliage of 
the trees that overshadowed the road, and dashed furiously past me, as if intent 
upon the destruction of whatever might appear to oppose its progress, or eager to 
escape the pursuit of another equally dreadful monster of its own species, that fol- 
lowed in quick succession. Soon after a train of cars hove in sight, having on 
board fourteen mules, but with less velocity than the former. The mules were 
arranged in stalls of three abreast ; however well pleased they might have been 
with their novel mode of travelling, and the wild scenery of the country around 
them, they seemed more intent upon their feed, which was placed before them, 
than anything else ; they, however, turned their heads and cocked their long ears 
as they came opposite, and gave us a passing look, as much as to say, Ladies and 
gentlemen, we have as good a right to ride in the carriages as you. 

The horses were now geared to the pleasure carriages, we took our seats, and 
were soon under way. There was nothing in the scenery along the road, save its 
wildness, particularly to interest one. No stately houses, cultivated fields, or 
rural cottages, met the eye ; a few dilapidated buildings were scattered here and 
there, but most of them were tenantless, and those which appeared to be inhabited 
presented little or no evidences of industry. There was much to admire in the 
smooth and gently ascending track before us, winding its course in many a curve, 
and the rich foliage that covered the mountain side spreading a green canopy over 
our heads as we moved along. We had been a little more than an hour on the 
road, when we were informed that we had arrived at the summit of the mountain. 
Our driver now became our guide, and showed us the openings in the mountain, 
&c. &c. To give a description of this vast repository of mineral wealth, the man- 
ner of quarrying or breaking down the coal, the various mechanical contrivances, 
and the general life and activity which everywhere presented itself, would require 
more time and ingenuity than I am master of, We had spent nearly an hour at 
the mines in examinations, and had obtained several beautiful specimens of vari- 
ous qualities of coal, when notice was given that the carriages were about to return. 
I was told that we were over a thousand feet above the level of the Lehigh, and 
about ten miles from Mauch Chunk, that our translation to the latter place would 
occupy about thirty minutes, though if you have special business to attend to, 
and wish to gain a little time, said our guide, it can be effected much sooner. " The 
deuce it can," said I ; "hold on, a little, if you please, I 've nothing more urgent to 
attend to than the eating a warm dinner at Kimball's, and I am sure I would rather 
dine on cold snacks for a week than to be hurried down that mountain in quite 
such a hurry." No, no, I was never made for flying, thought I, otherwise I should 
have been provided with a pair of wings ; but in this I soon found myself mis- 



358 MAUCH CHUNK. 

taken ; the bugle sounded for our departure, and without the aid of wings, horses, 
steam, water, or any visible power, we soon discovered that we were flying down 
the mountain at the rate of twenty miles an hour ; at times our velocity considera- 
bly exceeded a mile in three minutes. In a short time we landed safe at the place 
of our morning's departure, highly gratified with the novelty of our excursion. 

As for myself, I was never better pleased, though a mile in two minutes is "not 
slow," as the Mauch Chunkers say, and that before I was fairly initiated into the 
art of flying I had some doubts as to the dependence to be placed upon my magic- 
moving wings, but this gradually wore off, and by the time we reached the first 
five miles, I was fully satisfied of their powers of speed, as well as perfect safety 
of conveyance, as their movement was under perfect control. 

Mauch Chunk, Sept. 9th, 1858. 
Having travelled thus far on a few days' holiday, I feel very much like a school- 
boy when he is let out of school for a vacation. That is — I am prepared to be 
pleased with everything I meet in the way. Well! — this sentiment is truly 
delightful, albeit I am now rapidly approaching the decadence of senility. The 
country here is curious, unique, grand, broken, strange, wild, and glorious, abound- 
ing in the picturesque and majestic beauties of nature, and interesting by the 
wonders of art. The results of human skill on a large scale were never seen in 
greater perfection than between Mauch Chunk and the coal hills, and at the Sum- 
mit and other mines and works, connected as they are with railroads, and with 
the marvellous canal, and its long and lofty lockage above the Delaware. All 
rambling Philadelphians should visit these regions, and examine the superb land- 
scapes, and explore the subterranean treasures of their own State. But they will 
not, for as of old — 

" While abroad to see beauties the traveller goes, 
He neglects the fine things that lie under his nose." 

Approaching Mauch Chunk from Wilkesbarre by Whitehaven, Wetherly, and 
the Beaver Meadow Railroad, we cross railroads from several coal fields from Hazle- 
ton, receive the Room Run coal, together with black diamonds from I know not 
how many other sources, and we pass along the Lehigh River, which has forced 
its way for miles through perpendicular cliffs, sometimes a thousand feet high, in 
a nook of which, where three of these tremendous ravines converge, lies the neat 
and improving town of Mauch Chunk, which, like Pottsville, is a " coal metropo- 
lis." It has its many wharves, too, for export and import, per the slackwater 
navigation of the river. But the town is odd — bizarre — the valleys are so narrow, 
so completely walled in by lofty mountains, that there is not room for more than 
a single street per valley. 

This morning, after breakfast, quite a party of us took the omnibus and rode up 
Mount Pisgah to the foot of the inclined plane. And here we were to commence a 
ride, of the novelty and pleasure and excitement of which it is hardly possible to 
give an idea by any written description. At the foot of the plane we took our 
seats in a very comfortable covered car, about a third of the length of one of the 
ordinary eight-wheeled passenger cars. The safety car, which is fastened to the 
steel bands and wire rope by which we were to be drawn up the plane, was 
attached to the rear end of the passenger car, the engineer at the top of the plane 
was signalled, and away we started up the ascent. The plane is over two thou- 
sand feet long, and rises over six hundred feet ; we were eight minutes in making 
the ascent. The view, as we ascended, and after we reached the top of the plane, 



SCENERY IN 1858. 359 

was beautiful in the extreme. Below us, almost at our feet, as it seemed, lay trie 
town, with the river winding along its front, gleaming in the bright sunlight ; the 
boats in the canal, the cars upon the railroad, and the men and mules engaged 
about the coal wharves and landings, all reduced to Lilliputian size. The eye 
could follow and take in at a glance the valley of the Lehigh, stretching far away 
southward beyond the Gap, till the blue hills near Allentown, vanishing into the 
horizon, bounded the view. 

But we must not linger. A vigorous push, to give the cars a start, and away we 
go upon a descending grade for nine miles, with the aid of no motive power but 
the force of gravity. The feeling, at first, to one who has never travelled in this 
way, is one'of strangeness, not unaccompanied with a little suspicion of insecurity. 
The break alone is the controlling power, to regulate the speed or stop the car in 
case of necessity ; but in a little while one gets accustomed to the novelty of the 
whole thing, and enjoys it highly. Away we go around the mountain, rapidly 
whizzing past the tree-tops, which rise up the mountain side upon the left, and 
now and then catching a glimpse through the thick foliage down into the valley 
beneath. In about twenty minutes we reach the foot of a second inclined plane. 
Here the aid of a stationary engine at the top is called in play, and we are drawn 
up to the Summit, the highest point on Mount Pisgah, nine miles from Mauch 
Chunk. To the northward, upon the opposite side from the Mauch Chunk Valley, 
the mountain slopes down into the valley of Panther Creek, scattered all through 
which are extensive collieries. At the Summit we change cars, and take our seats 
in a car open at the top and on all sides, from which we can better enjoy the view. 
Again the cars were started with a push, and again we are off, moved alone by the 
force of gravity. But now we have a novel variation in the descent. The road, 
instead of running in one direction along the mountain side to the bottom of the 
valley, zigzags back and forth ; now we are riding^with one end of the car in front, 
and then, as we change to another track, the other end of the car is the front. 

And so we went at a most rapid rate, now this way, now that way, the breeze 
caused by the rapid motion rendering it necessary for us to keep hold of our hats 
and bonnets — now dashing round a curve at what seemed a frightful speed, and 
now resting a moment as the switch-back changed our course, and again away 
with the speed of the wind, till we reached the bottom of the valley. Here we had 
leisure to examine a coal-breaker, and rest ourselves before commencing the ascent. 
This is effected by means of two inclined planes, up which we were drawn by station- 
ary engines, and found ourselves once more on the summit. Resuming our seats 
in the cars in which we started at first, we again are whirled along by the simple 
force of gravity nine miles to the foot of the inclined plane from which we had first 
set out on our ride. A short walk down the hill brought us to our hotel, our 
appetites greatly sharpened for dinner by the pure, clear, bracing mountain air, of 
which we had drank our full supply. A TRAVELLER. 

Mauch Chunk, Sept. 20, 1859. 
Our plans were made for an excursion the next morning over the famous gravi- 
tation road, which, of itself, is a great curiosity, and a gi*eat conception, as well as 
a great consummation. There are some twenty-two miles of road connected with 
the coal mines and works which are travelled entirely by gravitation, with the 
exception of four inclined planes, where immense stationary engines are used to 
overcome the great eminences, and to draw up water from the valley below. A 
brilliant and bracing morning welcomed us at the start, lighting up the landscape 



360 MAUCH CHUNK. 

with, a freshness of coloring that was perfectly enchanting. Our party had heen 
provided with a special car, entirely open, so that no part of the view was inter- 
rupted. In a few minutes after entering, we run over to the base of Mount Pisgah, 
where the great inclined plane is encountered. The up-look from the little car at 
the base to the summit where the stationary engine-house stands perched, its 
proportions dwarfed by the distance, is stirring, and some little resolution is required 
to take the seemingly perilous ascent, which is 600 feet in the air, on a plane of 
2200 in length. Behind, and attached to the passenger cars, is a safety car, which 
tends as protection against possible accidents, none of which, however, have occur- 
red under the system and machinery now and long in use. We are hitched on, 
the signal is given, the engine above moves its ponderous propulsion, and we start 
on the plane. Up, up, we go, until the mountain tops, which just now towered 
above us, sink into the valleys and become pigmy hills, and the whole face of the 
surrounding country, in an immense circuit, opens under us like one vast flower 
bed, enriched with all the glowing garb of autumn, and glittering with a sunlight 
which intensifies every beauty and color. Novel emotions crowd upon the mind 
as the exciting and enchanting scene unfolds itself with new and almost appalling 
grandeur as the summit is approached, and the soul is transported with awe as 
the great works of the Creator stand out in their imposing contrast to our little- 
ness, as we hang suspended, as it were, in mid-air. 

After attaining the eminence, and inspecting the works, the excursion is renewed, 
this time by gravitation only. At the start, the grade is sharp, being ninety feet 
to the mile for six miles, and we rush along the edge of the precipices at a furious 
speed, until the foot of Mount Jefferson is reached, where another plane, only a 
little less formidable, is met, and the ascent to the clouds is repeated. This pro- 
cess, by the way, is the nearest approach to ballooning in our experience, and is 
said by those who have tried both to be more exciting and inspiring in its effects. 
After looking down from the dizzy height in our miniature car, we are quite satis- 
fied to leave the ballooning to those who aim at a new sensation. From the sum- 
mit we take the famous switch-back, and whirling along at a rapid pace for miles, 
we bring up at the coal stations, where the black diamonds are distributed accord- 
ing to their size, and prepared for transportation. Three delightful hours are 
passed in this way, when we return to the summit and shoot down the precipitous 
declivity to Mauch Chunk. In all this ride, parts of which appear so perilous, the 
presence of danger is not felt, from the confidence of the conductor, who always 
accompanies the car, and the knowledge that the road has been travelled for many 
years without a single serious accident to a passenger. In fact, the whole scene is 
so full of stirring and novel interest, that there is no time for the reflections which 
naturally enough suggest themselves afterwards. Mauch Chunk is destined to 
become a celebrated resort when this and other attractions near it shall be fully 
known, as they must be in time ; and the day is not distant when the travel there 
will require a spacious house of entertainment on the summit, where the switch- 
back road begins. 

Postponing our purpose to return to the city, after this excursion, until the next 
day, the opportunity was thus afforded of a run over the Beaver Meadow road to 
Janesville, which follows the Lehigh, and presents some of the finest points of 
scenery we encountered on the whole route, from the sudden curves of the river, 
and the majestic surroundings which rise up, like Titanic walls, on either side. 
Taking the Lehigh Valley road to Bethlehem, on the sixth morning, and the North 
Pennsylvania from there down, we returned here about noon, deeply impressed 




E'.d.Ya] 



0. Currier's Li th.. 33 Spruce SfNX 



NESQUEHONING. 361 

with the extraordinary beauties and objects which were constantly revealed, and 
with the conviction that, if they could be known generally, our people would soon 
come to understand their own comforts and interests by spending their summers 
at home, where greater facilities and inducements are offered, and by extending 
that sort of information abroad, by which the interior of Pennsylvania would 
become the great centre of attraction for the whole country. We have mountains, 
scenery, and a climate here, which, combined, are infinitely superior to those of 
New England, and they are far more accessible to the traveller who seeks recrea- 
tion or pleasure. 



Nesquehoning is a small village, situated at the foot of Nesque- 
honing Mountain, upon the Nesquehoning Creek, five miles above 
Mauch Chunk. The village was laid out in 1831, by the Lehigh 
Navigation Company ; it contains a population of about six hun- 
dred, one church (Catholic), two schools, three hotels, and one 
store. The inhabitants are principally miners, who work at the 
Eoom Eun Mines, about half a mile from the village; at the pre- 
sent time there is but one mine worked, although there are two 
openings. They belong to the Lehigh Navigation Company, and 
are leased by E. A. Packer & Co. The coal is sent to Mauch 
Chunk by railroad, where it is loaded in boats and sent to market 
through the Lehigh Canal. 



The original intention of the publishers of this work (as will 
be seen by referring to the prospectus) was to give a history only 
of the towns, villages, and improvements in that part of the Lehigh 
Valley through which the Lehigh Valley railroad passes — from 
Easton to Mauch Chunk. But the country bordering on the 
Lehigh upwards from Mauch Chunk has attained within a few 
years so great a notoriety from the many improvements made, that 
we feel we would be doing injustice to the Lehigh Valley did we 
not add a brief sketch of the many thriving towns, villages, and 
improvements in that region. 

On ascending the Lehigh you at once enter upon a scene both 
sublime and beautiful. In every portion of the distance, from 
Mauch Chunk to White Haven, nature appears to have diffused 
25 










SketcWfrom N° 5. Coal-Breaker. 



; .Ciiri-iersl.itk 33 Si 



362 MAUCH CHUNK TO WHITE HAVEN. 

her beauties of grandeur and magnificence on every band, but so 
diversified that not a single monotonous view occurs. 

Besides the grandeur of its mountains, its waterfalls, its wooded 
and barren mountain sides, its mountain walls, and frightful pre- 
cipices — the navigation is not unworthy reflection. Passing the 
pools and the locks in which are dropped down boats from twelve 
to thirty-two feet at a lift — then the tremendous dams from seven- 
teen to fifty feet high, forming the pools — and the immense guard 
banks — all lead one to reflect on the magnitude of its design and 
the skill, energy, and perseverance of its projectors. This part of 
the country has, within the few past years, been visited by thou- 
sands, a large proportion of whom have come solely with the view 
of obtaining recreation, and a change from the old round of tours, 
which, from frequent repetition, no longer yield the same freshness 
of attraction as in former times. 

They have been gratified — indeed, we may safely say delighted — 
with the beauty of the scenery, novelty of the objects, and ex- 
hilarating salubrity of the mountain atmosphere, and many have 
returned from time to time, always finding something new upon 
which they could dwell with pleasure. Men of science have be- 
held with astonishment the vast accumulation of mineral wealth 
that has for ages been imbedded quietly in the bosom of the hills, 
and which now promises to yield, for a long period to come, an 
immense supply of fuel. The forests, which but a few short years 
past were the resort only of beasts, have been filled with an active 
population, and the sound of the axe has driven the bears and wolves 
in search of less frequented quarters. Although the mountainous 
nature of this region presented formidable obstacles in the way of 
improvement, yet they were entirely overcome by the energy and 
perseverance of man. The building of the canal, the Beaver 
Meadow and Hazleton railroads, and their numerous branches, 
caused a complete revolution through the country which they pass, 
and have caused a constant stream of wealth to flow into the 
adjoining counties amounting to millions of dollars, and which 



PENN HAVEN" — WEATHERLY. 368 

will never be checked as long as the great Middle coal basin con- 
tinues to contain coal. 

We will take the Beaver Meadow Eailroad cars at Mauch Chunk 
and visit the villages along the route. 

Perm Haven is the first village we arrive at; it is eight miles 
above Mauch Chunk, situated at the junction of the Quakake Creek 
with the river Lehigh. The Hazleton Eailroad commences here, 
and runs for the distance of fourteen miles to the borouarh of 

o 

Hazleton. The Hazleton Coal Company, to whom the property 
belongs, have used it as their shipping point since their commence- 
ment (1838) to the present time, with an interruption of one and 
a half years, which was caused by the great freshet of 1841. From 
1838 to 1852, the Hazleton Company used the Beaver Meadow 
Eailroad from what is called Hazle Creek Bridge to Penn Haven 
(six miles); after the freshet of 1850, they located and built the 
present road from Hazle Creek Bridge to the top of the mountain 
at Penn Haven; here, by means of inclined planes, which are four 
hundred and thirty feet high and twelve hundred feet long, the 
coal cars are made to descend the mountain to the pockets from 
which the boats are loaded. The planes are self-acting ; the loaded 
cars descending, draw up the empty ones, on the same plan as 
those at the schutes at Mauch Chunk. During the present year 
(1859), the Company have erected another plane, by means of 
which the coal cars are let down on a level with the Beaver Mea- 
dow Eailroad, over which they are conveyed to the Lehigh Valley 
Eoad, and thence to market. The scenery from the head of the 
planes is magnificent, and said to be the most beautiful above 
Mauch Chunk. The village contains about three hundred inhabit- 
ants, one hotel, one school, and one store. 

Weatherly, the next village in our route, is fourteen miles from 
Mauch Chunk, on the Beaver Meadow Eailroad. The village con- 
tains about six hundred inhabitants, one church (Methodist), two 
schools, two hotels, post-office, three stores, and the machine and 



364 BEAVER MEADOW. 

car repair shops of the Beaver Meadow Eailroad Company. The 
great freshet of 1849 and 1850, destroyed the shops at this place, 
and swept away nearly one half of the superstructure, and a large 
portion of the permanent way of the road between Weatherly and 
Penn Haven. One mile and a quarter below Weatherly, the 
Quakake Railroad — thirteen miles in length — connects the Beaver 
Meadow with the Catawissa, Williamsport, and Erie Eailroad. 
One and a half miles above Weatherly, the Beaver Meadow and 
Hazleton railroads meet. 

Beaver Meadow. — This beautiful and enterprising village is situ- 
ated on the Beaver Meadow Eailroad, about nineteen miles above 
Mauch Chunk; the place was commenced about 1833. The town 
derives its name from Beaver Creek, which runs close by. A dam 
is said to have existed on the Beaver Creek, until within a few 
years, which was built by the beavers, many years before the town 
was commenced. The business of the place is principally that 
connected with the mining of coal ; the mines of the Beaver Mea- 
dow Company, and those of Eatcliffe and Johnson, are situated 
near the village. The first mine was opened in 1831. The ma- 
chine and car repair shops of the Eailroad Company were for- 
merly located here, but in 1839, for reasons deemed of sufficient 
importance, they were removed to Weatherly. The population at 
the present time is about six hundred, for the village alone ; but 
to this should be added the inhabitants of the several small mining 
hamlets near the place, which would probably increase the number 
to twelve hundred. The town is pleasantly situated on elevated 
ground (sixteen hundred feet above tidewater by actual measure- 
ment), and contains one church (Presbyterian), two public schools, 
one machine 'shop, three hotels, three stores, and one military com- 
pany. 

Jeansville is a mining village, situated on a branch of the Beaver 
Meadow Eailroad, about four miles above Beaver Meadow, and two 
miles from Hazleton ; the place is named after Mr. Joseph Jeans, 



HAZLETON. 365 

of Philadelphia, one of the original proprietors of the mines in the 
vicinity. The village contains a population of about sixteen hun- 
dred (principally miners), one church (Methodist), erected by and 
belonging to Mr. W. Milnes, three public schools, one night school 
for boys, one store, and one hotel. The celebrated Spring Moun- 
tain coal mines are situated here, and are worked by Chas. Hamp- 
shire for account of Randolph and Hampshire, lessees; at this time 
they are working three openings, from which are mined and sent 
to market some 150,000 tons of coal per year. In the immediate 
neighborhood of Jeansville are several small mining villages, viz., 
Frenchtown, Yorktown, Audenried, and Tresckow, in each of 
which there are several coal mines. The product of all these 
mines is carried to market over the Beaver Meadow Railroad, and 
are situated in what is called the Beaver Meadow coal basin. 

Hazleton, Luzerne County, one of the handsomest and most en^ 
lerprisiug towns in the coal region, is situated on the Hazleton 
Railroad, twenty-three miles from Mauch Chunk, on what is known 
as the dividing ridge of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Rivers, the 
waters in the western part of the town running into Susquehanna 
River, while those in the eastern part flow into the Lehigh ; the 
town is situated seventeen hundred feet above tidewater. Hazle 
Creek, from which the town derives its name, flows near by. The 
Hazleton Railroad, of which this place is the terminus, was com- 
menced in 1836, and completed to Weatherly in 1838, where it 
connected with the Beaver Meadow Railroad; in 1851, the road 
was continued from a point two miles above Weatherly, to Penn 
Haven, making the whole length of the road fourteen miles. 
Within two miles of the borough there are eleven openings, or 
coal mines, which are worked by different companies, Messrs. A. 
Pardee and Co. being the lessees of no less than six of them, which 
produce about 250,000 tons of coal per annum ; the product of 
these mines is carried over the Hazleton Railroad to Penn Haven, 
where it is shipped by canal, or transferred to the Beaver Meadow 
Railroad, and from that to the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The town 



366 STOCKTON. 

of Hazleton has grown up in connection with the Hazleton Co.'s 
mines, which were opened in 1837 ; the town was incorporated as 
a borough in 1857, and contains at the present time about fifteen 
hundred inhabitants, three churches (Presbyterian, Lutheran, Ger- 
man Eeformed, and Catholic), five schools, four hotels, six stores, 
one brewery, one grist-mill, and the machine and car shops of the 
Hazleton Eailroad and Coal Company, three military companies, 
and one brass band. 

" Hazleton is one of the most beautiful villages in the Lehigh valley coal region. 
The town consists of several streets running at right angles ; the principal one Is 
very wide and nearly half a mile in length, lined on both sides with good and 
substantial buildings. The town is well supplied with pure cold spring water 
from a neighboring hill, which is conveyed to the town through pipes. The num- 
ber of inhabitants is said to be about 1500, but in addition to this should be added 
the population of the little hamlets near the mines surrounding the borough, which 
would probably increase the number to near 3000. The schools of the borough 
are perhaps equal to any in the State, as great care has been exercised in the 
selection of teachers and the management of the schools ; they are graded, from 
«the primary to the high school, which arrangement has proved very beneficial. 
One of the institutions of the place is the locomotive and car works of Messrs. A. 
Pardee & Co. : after having travelled through mountains of rocks and dense forests 
of pine we are not prepared to find so extensive and complete an establishment. 
Here are built and repaired all of the locomotives and cars of the Hazleton Coal 
and Railroad Company, as well as all the machinery needed in mining operations. 
This establishment, under the able management of the master machinist, Mr. 
David Clark, has become celebrated for the character of its work throughout the 
coal region. Hazleton is beautifully located and is becoming quite a place of sum- 
mer resort ; the inhabitants are sociable and intelligent, and the hotels excellent. 
Mr. A. Pardee, one of the leading men and most enterprising coal operators in this 
region, resides here. The town and neighborhood is exceedingly healthy, situated 
as it is, 1700 feet above tidewater; the summers are delightfully cool. Did our 
space permit we would give a full description of the many objects of interest in 
the neighborhood, but with a few words more we must close. Hazleton is easy of 
access, it being only twenty -three miles from Mauch Chunk by the Beaver Meadow 
and Hazleton Railroads, through a country abounding with scenery both wild and 
picturesque in the extreme ; and, what adds much to the pleasure of the ride is 
the sociable and agreeable manners of Messrs. Nichols and Glover, the conductors, 
who are ever ready to answer the hundreds of questions put to them by the 
delighted tourists ; and by way of conclusion we would say to all who ever visit 
Mauch Chunk — don't fail to come to Hazleton." 

Stockton, Luzerne Co., is a small mining village, situated on the 
Hazleton Eailroad, two miles from Hazleton ; it was named in 
honor of Commodore Stockton, of New Jersey, whose liberality 
has done much for the benefit of the Lehigh Valley. The celebrated 



STOCKTON — ECKLEY. 367 

East Sugar-loaf Coal Mines are situated here; they were opened in 
1850 by Messrs. Packer, Carter, & Co., the first coal being sent to 
market by them on the 8th of June, 1852. They are owned at the 
present time by Messrs. E. A. Packer & Co., are worked by three 
slopes, and are capable of producing fifty thousand tons per slope 
per year. The coal from these mines has justly earned a great 
reputation through the country, and is acknowledged by all to 
have no superior. 

The village of Stockton compares favorably with any mining 
town in the State, and in connection with the extensive improve- 
ments in the vicinity, is an evidence of the heavy outlay of capital 
required for the development of coal in this region, as well as the 
energy, character, and enterprise required of those who enter into 
so great an undertaking. Stockton has about one thousand inha- 
bitants, one church, one hotel, one store, one saw-mill, a post-office, 
and two public schools. (We present a view of the No. 1 colliery, 
together with a small portion of the village.) 

The visitor to Stockton cannot but be impressed with admiration 
of the permanency and adaptability of all the machinery and fix- 
tures to the purposes for which they are intended, exhibiting as 
they do, in every part, that they have been erected under the direc- 
tion of men who were masters in their several departments. 

Ecldey, Foster Township, Luzerne Co., one of the most beautiful 
mining villages in the State, is situated on a branch of the Hazleton 
Eailroad (called the Lehigh and Luzerne road), about twenty miles 
above Mauch Chunk. The place was formerly called Fillmore, 
but changed to the present name since the establishment of a post- 
office. The site of the village in 1854 was a perfect wilderness. 
At that time Messrs. Sharpe, Leisenring, & Co. commenced explo- 
rations on the tract, to ascertain the thickness and extent of the 
coal veins. As soon as they were satisfied that the coal was suffi- 
ciently abundant to warrant the erection of dwellings for miners, 
and other buildings necessary for mining purposes, they built a 
saw-mill, considering it the first requisite for turning the pines and 



368 ECKLEV. 

hemlocks of the forest into dwellings. Since that time they have 
erected over one hundred and fifty tenements, and five neat cot- 
tages for the accommodation of the resident partners. They have 
also erected in that time three commodious school-houses, two 
churches (Episcopal and Presbyterian), a store, and a fine hotel. 
The general arrangement of the place is perhaps the most complete 
of any mining town in the State. The location of the houses is 
divided into four sections or divisions, each section occupied accord- 
ing to grade, viz., the cottages of the proprietors in one section, 
the boss laborers and contractors in another, the miners in a third, 
and second class miners and slate pickers in another. As the 
dwellings are all owned by the lessees, the cost of each has been 
according to its location. Considerable attention has been given 
to make them convenient within, and with their projecting eaves 
and gables and uniform appearance, present a very neat and pic- 
turesque appearance without. The tenements are in blocks of two 
houses each, on lots of fifty feet front by two hundred feet deep, 
and gives to each tenant a fine garden, which many have orna- 
mented with considerable taste. The collieries of Messrs. Sharpe, 
Leisenring, & Co., which are located here, are known by the name 
of Council Eidge. The tract of land on which the mines are located 
has been ascertained by geological developments, principally under 
the direction of Mr. A. L. Foster, to contain the Buck Mountain 
and other veins, long favorably known in the market as producing 
a superior quality of coal. In locating the two openings from 
which the coal is at present raised, the lessees selected a point on 
the anticlinal axis of the two basins, from which a slope is driven 
north and south into each basin, the coal from both slopes passing 
through the same breaker. The two openings are capable of pro- 
ducing about 120,000 tons of coal per year. About a mile out of 
town they have erected a water- works, to supply the town with 
water, as well as feed the boilers for all their steam works. We 
would like to give a detailed description of this beautiful little 
village, but our space forbids. To a person acquainted with the 
location as it appeared five years ago, the first emotions on ap- 



EOCKPORT. 369 

proaching the place are those of surprise that where was then a 
dense forest, unreclaimed by the hand of man, and echoing to no 
sound of civilization, save occasionally the report of the hunter's 
rifle, so large a town has sprung up as if by magic, and the solitude 
of the forest has been superseded by the busy hum of machinery, 
the puffing of engines, and the busy stir of a population of seven 
hundred souls. Succeeding the emotions of surprise and pleasure 
at this great change, are those of admiration of the energy and 
perseverance of the men under whose management, direction, and 
capital so much has been done in so short a time. 

The Lehigh and Luzerne Eailroad, of which Eckley is the ter- 
minus, passes through a tunnel ten hundred and seventeen feet 
long, through the Council Eidge Mountain ; the tunnel was com- 
pleted, and first locomotive run through Aug. 29, 1859. It was on 
this mountain, and near the site of this town, that the Indian coun- 
cil of war was held, on the night previous to the massacre of 
Wyoming ; hence the name given to the mountain. 

Rockport is a neat and pleasant little village, situated on the 
Lehigh River, thirteen miles above Mauch Chunk. It contains 
about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, one church, one school- 
house, one hotel, one store. The place has grown up with the 
mining operations of the Buck Mountain Coal Company. The 
place was started soon after the discovery of coal in that region 
by Mr. A. L. Foster, in 1836 and 1837. The mines of the Com- 
pany are situated about four miles from the village (it being merely 
the shipping-point), at a place called Clifton, which has a popula- 
tion of about eight hundred. The Company's works consist of 
three openings, from which are mined about 100,000 tons of coal 
per annum. The coal is conveyed from the mines by railroad to 
Rockport, where it is emptied into boats, and sent to market via 
Lehigh Canal. The village of Rockport is a small but very beau- 
tiful village, situated in a delightfully picturesque valley ; it con- 
sists of but one street, in which are several very handsome private 
residences, occupied by persons engaged in the coal trade. The 



370 WHITE HAVEN. 

hotel of the place is well kept, the knowledge of which, together 
with the hospitality of the citizens, the cool bracing mountain air, 
and the delightful walks and drives through the adjacent country, 
has made it quite a place of summer resort. 

White Haven, Luzerne County, is situated on the Lehigh Eiver, 
at the head of the slack-water navigation, twenty-five miles above 
Mauch Chunk. The town was commenced in 1835, and named 
after Josiah White. It was incorporated as a borough in 1842, and 
has at this time about fifteen hundred inhabitants, three churches, 
Presbyterian, Methodist, and Episcopal, two school-houses, three 
schools, five hotels, four stores, ten saw-mills, two planing mills, 
one foundry and machine shop, and two military companies. The 
principal business of the place is that connected with the sawing 
of lumber. White Haven is also the terminus of the Lehigh 
and Susquehanna Eailroad, running between White Haven and 
Wilkesbarre, a distance of twenty miles. This road was originally 
intended for the conveyance of boats from the Susquehanna navi- 
gation to that of the Lehigh ; but the project was abandoned, and 
the road is now used for the transportation of passengers and 
freight only. A railroad is now being built from this place to 
Penn Haven, by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, which, 
when completed, will form a continuous and direct line from 
Wilkesbarre to New York and Philadelphia. At this time pas- 
sengers are required to take the stage from White Haven to Eck- 
ley, a distance of seven miles, and thence via Lehigh and Luzerne, 
Hazleton and Beaver Meadow Railroads, to Mauch Chunk. The 
navigation of the Lehigh is continued thirteen miles above White 
Haven to Stoddartsville, by what is called a descending navigation, 
which is caused by artificial freshets, and the old bear-trap locks 
invented by Josiah White are still used, a full description of which 
will be found in the history of the Canal Company. About one mile 
below White Haven is the extensive tannery of Messrs. Smull and 
Sons, which is said to be the largest in the United States ; the main 



WHITE HAVEN. 371 

building is six hundred and eighty feet in length, and the number 
of sides tanned per year is 80,000. 

Soon after the completion of the canal, a packet-boat was run 
from White Haven to Mauch Chunk, and another from the latter 
place to Easton, for the conveyance of passengers. The packet- 
boat Swan, Capt. W. E. Wells, was the first boat, and commenced 
regular trips in July, 1829, from Easton to Mauch Chunk ; another 
boat was run to White Haven by Capt. Hillman, called the Wash- 
ington ; this mode of travelling continued for several years. We 
append a letter written by a traveller over this route : — 

DESCENT OF THE LEHIGH. 

"White Haven is situated at the head of the Lehigh Navigation, and some eight 
or ten miles above the commencement of the coal formation. Its trade is there- 
fore confined to the running of lumber; and this, judging from the number of 
saw-mills in the place, and its vicinity, and the immense number of board piles 
that for several miles above it, literally line the banks of the river, must be ex- 
tensive. 

We here took passage in a packet for Mauch Chunk. You will excuse a some- 
what detailed account of my passage down this fair stream. The descent of the 
Lehigh is interesting, both on account of the almost gigantic construction of the 
canal, and the magnificent wildness of the natural scenery. The fall in the river, 
between White Haven and Mauch Chunk, a distance of but twenty-five miles, is 
six hundred and forty-two feet, and is overcome by twenty-nine locks, varying 
from fifteen to upwards of thirty feet in depth. These locks, even before the de- 
structive freshet of 1841, were substantially constructed, but those that were then 
destroyed, have been since rebuilt on a larger and still more massive scale. They 
have been widened so as to admit two boats at once, and from the inspection of 
an unpractised eye, I judged their walls to be five feet in thickness, and their 
abutments of solid mason work to their wickers, are filled and emptied as expe- 
ditiously as the eight feet locks on our State canals. Between White Haven and 
Mauch Chunk, the navigation is almost entirely by slack-water. 

The scenery, immediately upon leaving White Haven, is striking, but improves 
gradually, as you descend the Lehigh, iintil, some miles above Mauch Chunk, it 
becomes wild and picturesque in the highest degree. The dark waters of the 
river, dyed almost to a black, by the sap of the hemlock soaking in it, everywhere 
inclosed by mountains of from three hundred to seven hundred feet in height, and 
confined to a channel scarcely three hundred feet wide, trace a circuitous course 
through, perhaps, the wildest and most rugged mountain region of the State. De- 
termined to enjoy it to the utmost, I furnished myself with a prime principe, and 
taking my seat upon the deck, fairly drank in the varied magnificence of the ever- 
changing scene. Beneath me, the Lehigh either reposed in a black, glittering sheet, 
or bounded over its rocky channel in wreaths of snow-white foam ; about me, on 
every side, for hundreds of feet, rose the pine-capped mountains, here dark, jag- 
ged, and precipitous, interspersed only with occasional forest trees, growing in the 
ravines, or amongst the clefts and crevices of the rocks ; now covered with rolling 



372 ANTHRACITE COAL FIELDS. 

stones nearly to their summits, bald and desolate ; and again, sloping to the river's 
bank, evenly clad with bright green foliage, and affording the eye a grateful relief 
from the almost painful grandeur of the ruder scenes ; above me, was the deep 
blue sky of a summer's eve, enhancing the effect of every view, by the contrast of 
its serene expanse, with the wild confusion of the mountain scenery around. 
Everywhere the mountain sides were spotted with tall, gaunt, leafless trunks of 
withered pines, blasted by lightning, or scorched by the hand of man, and requir- 
ing but slight aid from the excited imagination, to seem the gigantic guards of 
these Satanic fortresses. Along the course of the river, not a single rod of arable 
land is to be perceived ; the mountains sink sheer to the water's edge. In wild 
magnificence of scenery, I have seen nothing on the Hudson, the Susquehanna, or 
the Juniata, to compare with the banks of the Lehigh. 

A slight description of the coal fields and coal operations, in the 
region we have just passed through, will no doubt be of interest 
to the reader. Our space, and the character of the work, will not 
allow a full description of each mine, &c. 

The anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania are divided into three 
parts, viz., Northern, Middle, and Southern. The Southern and 
Middle divisions are at this time tributary to the Lehigh Canal 
and Lehigh Valley Eailroad, and after the completion of the last 
connecting link of railroad between the Lehigh and Susquehanna, 
the coal fields of the northern division will also seek a market 
through the Lehigh Yalley. The mines of the Lehigh Coal and 
Navigation Company are located mostly in the southern division, 
which has been the longest opened. As the Middle division inte- 
rests the people of the Lehigh Yalley more particularly, in con- 
sideration of its being a newly opened field, we give a brief de- 
scription of its extent, &c, together with the number of openings 
now worked. "We extract in part from Eogers' Geology of Penn- 
sylvania, Vol. II. 

General Structure and Topography. — The Eastern Middle Anthracite Coal 
Field of Pennsylvania is bounded on the south by the Red-shale Valleys of the 
Quakake and the Upper Catawissa, on the north by that of the Nescopeck, on the 
east by that of the Lehigh, and on the west by the branches of the valley of the 
Catawissa. It comprises a high rolling table-land of a maximum elevation above 
the level of the sea of a little less than 2000 feet. It is penetrated from the east 
and west by two sets of main anticlinal undulations, some of the longer of which 
pass each other in the more central portions of the plateau, while others almost 
unite to form continuous anticlinals through it. By a law of structure prevalent 
in many districts of the Appalachian chain, where the upper rocks left by denuda- 
tion are firm and resisting ones, and the strata beneath them readily eroded, 



GENERAL STRUCTURE AND TOPOGRAPHY. 873 

these anticlinals invariably enter the coal field by deeply denuded valleys or 
covers, the mountain spurs inclosed between them being habitually of synclinal 
structure. Viewed in another aspect, the main basins of the district, traced east 
and west, throwing off the form of valleys, run out into high insulated synclinal 
mountain spurs ; while the anticlinal ridges leave the table-land under opposite 
features, passing from the configuration of long narrow ridges, separating the basin 
into hollows or covers which, in both directions, make down into the red-shale 
valleys of the exterior country. 

Viewing the flexures of this complicated coal field in a large way, the whole 
district naturally divides itself into six leading synclinal belts, separated by five 
general anticlinal ranges, both the synclinal and the anticlinal tracts consisting 
rather of chains of basins and saddles, than of simple continuous flexures. Be- 
fore proceeding to a detailed description of the individual lesser saddles, and the 
basins of coal embraced between them, it will be expedient to indicate these 
larger features, and to classify the great anticlinal belts, and the general coal 

basins which they separate. 

********** 
Coal Basin No. 1, or that of Beaver Meadow. — Between Spring Mountain as a 
southern boundary and the above mentioned anticlinal Pismire Ridge as a 
northern, basin No. 1 of the district, or that of the Beaver Meadows, occurs. As 
a detailed analysis of the structure and contents of this interesting coal field will 
be introduced after this preliminary sketch, it will suffice to mention in this place 
that this basin is forked east and west by the intrusion of subordinate anticlinal 
axes penetrating it from both quarters, very much as the larger anticlinals enter 
and traverse the general table-land. 

********** 
Mines in this field — 

Spring Mountain Coal Company three openings, Hampshire & Randolph ; product 
150,000 tons per year. 

South Spring Mountain Coal Company, one opening. 

New York and Lehigh Coal Company, two openings, Taggart and Co. ; product 
80,000 tons per year. 

North Spring Mountain Coal Company, two openings, J. B. McCreary & Co. ; pro- 
duct 125,000 tons per year. 

German Pennsylvania Coal Company, two openings, German Coal Company ; pro- 
duct 60,000 tons per year. 

Beaver Meadow Coal Company, one opening, Ratcliffe & Johnson ; product 20,000 
tons per year. 

Colerain Coal Company, two openings, Ratcliffe & Johnson ; product 80,000 tons 
per year. 

Coal Basin No. 2, or that of Dreck Creek. — This is the narrow and straight trough 
of lower coal measures confined to the valley of Dreck Creek, and to the same de- 
pression prolonged across the Tamaqua road, towards the west. It terminates 
towards Cross Run of Catawissa Creek, but a thin covering of coal measures ex- 
tends northwest, forking off, as it were, from this basin, to lap across the eastern 
subsided end of the anticlinal of the Catawissa ridge, westward of the Dreck 
Creek axis ; thus uniting the Dreck Creek basin proper, with a long narrow syn- 
clinal belt of coal measures of the Big Tomhicken stream, north of the Catawissa 
ridge. It is this oblique passage of a strip of coal measures from the Dreck Creek 
basin into that of Big Tomhicken, which has led to the prevalent error of these 
being one and the same basin extended. * * * * 



374 ANTHRACITE COAL FIELDS. 

Mines in this field are not yet worked. 

Coal Basin No. 3, or that of Hazleton. — This, apparently the most capacious of 
the coal basins of the district inclosed between the anticlinal ranges Nos. 2 and 
3, extends as a continuous but somewhat complicated belt of coal strata, from a 
little east of the board-yard in the valley of Hazle Creek westward, even to the 
junction of the Little and Big Tomhicken. It seems to terminate east in two blunt 
prongs, divided by a broad low anticlinal of the conglomerate, and subsides a few 
hundred yards to the northeast of the board-yard. Westward, it forks in a much 
more conspicuous manner, being separated by an anticlinal ridge of conglomerate 
at Cranberry, into two long branch basins, the more southern one ascending Eagle 
or Cranberry Creek, and prolonging itself through the valley of Big Tomhicken, 
while the more northern, ranging west and north of Long Run, terminates in the 
Powell lands north of the Horseshoe Swamp, in the watershed which feeds the 
Sandy Run of Black Creek, and the Little or North Tomhicken. Connected with 
this third synclinal belt of the coal measures, are the two southern small basins 
of the Buck Mountain Company, on East Pismire Hill. * * * 

Mines in this field — 

Crystal Ridge, A. S. & E. Roberts ; Cranberry, A. S. & E. Roberts ; Diamond, A. 
Pardee ; Laurel Hill, Hazleton Coal Co. ; Old Hazleton, Hazleton Coal Co. ; No. 3 
Hazleton, Hazleton Coal Co. ; A. Pardee & Co. ; product 250,000. 

Mount Pleasant, one opening, Silliman & McKee ; product 30,000. 

East Sugar Loaf, three openings, E. A. Packer & Co. ; product 150,000. 

Buck Mountain Coal Company, two openings, Buck Mountain Company ; product 
65,000. 

Coal Basin No. 4, or that of Big Black Creek.— This division of the coal field lying 
between the anticlinal range of the Council Ridge on its south, and that of Black 
Creek Ridge and East Buck Mountain on its north, consists of two synclinal patches 
of the coal measures, the east, and by far the longest and most important, extending 
from near the Owl Hole westward, down the valley of Big Black Creek, to the in- 
tersection of this with Little Black Creek ; the western consisting of an unimport- 
ant narrow and shallow trough, west of Cranberry Creek, and heading near the 
sources of Barn's Run. From Jeddo westward to the mouth of Little Black Creek, 
the basin is of simple structure ; but eastward it forks into at least three divisions, 
the most prolonged and widest of which is that of the Fillmore and Buck Moun- 
tain Northern Basin. ******* 

Buck Mountain Mines, one opening, Buck Mountain Coal Company; product 
35,000. 

Council Ridge, two openings, Sharpe, Leisinring & Co. ; product 120,000. 

Union Improvement Company, one opening, J. B. Markle & Co. (new), capable 
of 50,000. 

Big Black Creek, one opening, Silliman & McKee. 

Coal Basin No. 5, or that of the Little Black Creek and Main Black Creek. — The 
next basin encountered in our progress northward, is a long and narrow synclinal 
belt of coal measures, extending from East Buck Mountain, east of Buck Mountain 
Creek to West Buck Mountain, west of the deep defile by which Black Creek passes 
northward out from the table-land. The eastern half of this trough lies chiefly 
in the valley of Little Black Creek, and is sometimes called Little Black Creek 
basin. The western half, from the entrance of Cranberry into Black Creek, occu- 
pies the valley of this latter stream the whole way to West Buck Mountain, head- 
ing westward, near the source of Robert's Creek. It is doubtful whether the east 




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LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 375 

and west basins of this belt are actually united, though, they strictly belong to 
one synclinal wave. It would seem rather, in the present imperfectly developed 
state of the district, that the coal measures have all been denuded from out of the 
trough or basin above the junction of Big Black Creek and Cranberry. 

Next its east end the Little Black Creek basin subdivides, an anticlinal upthrow 
of the conglomerate breaking it into two branches ; one running towards the main 
southern spur of East Buck Mountain, the other keeping a more northern course 
towards the north synclinal spur of the same range. 

No openings have yet been made in this basin. 

. Coal Basin No. 6, or that of East Green Mountain. — Between the anticlinal last 
mentioned, or that of the Conyngham Valley, and another axis situated in the 
valley of the Nescopec and Oley Creeks, occurs the almost detached coal field of 
the East Green Mountain. This embraces two distinct coal basins, separated by a 
local anticlinal, which lifts the upper strata of the red shale formation to the 
summit of the mountain. The larger of these basins occupies the west half of the 
Green Mountain, while the smaller, lying about one miie north of the east point 
of this main one, is seated just at the north edge of the table-land, where it over- 
looks the valley of Oley Creek. 

No openings in this basin. 

Coal Basin No. 7, or that of McAuley's Mountain. — In apparently the same gene- 
ral range or belt with the Western Green Mountain Basin, lies the remote, insu- 
lated, flat-topped mountain basin of McAuley's Mountain. Whether this is situated 
between the same anticlinals which inclose the coal basins of the East Green Moun- 
tain, I am not prepared to say, and therefore deem it wisest, for the sake of avoid- 
ing errors of classification, to rank it separately. 



HISTORY OF THE LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY.* 

There are probably but few persons in this land of "the free" who have not, at 
some time or other, enjoyed the novelty and the genial warmth of an anthracite 
fire ; many a pleasant story has been related, many tender vows been made and 
sealed before the flaming minister upon the hearth. But it is on a cold winter's 
night, when we hear the snow and sleet all " pitiless pour," and the wind howl 
and fret around us, that we realize in a more grateful sense the glowing qualities 
of our friend. It is then, wrapt in silent contemplation, that we trace its useful 
presence throughout the whole range of both social and industrious life, and find 
it often associated with our national strength and glory, never to be diminished 
or obscured. When we view the almost numberless boats passing on our canals, 
hear the shrill whistle of the locomotive conveying the long train of cars, all of 
which are laden with this valuable mineral, to the two great commercial cities of 
the Union, New York and Philadelphia, and from thence distributed as the food of 
the vast manufacturing industry of the United States, and thus supplying fuel for 
furnaces, rolling mills, forges, smitheries, as also the fires of thousands of steam- 
engines, which spin, weave, grind, hammer, blow, pump, lift, travel the railroads, 



* We are indebted for much of the following history, to a history published in 
1841 by the Canal Company, and a communication to the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society by Dr. Thos. C. James. 



376 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

and navigate rivers and seas ; and how greatly the productive industry, by the 
discovery of this staple production, has added to the wealth, power, and prosperity 
of this great nation. Then it is that we, as Pennsylvanians, can exult that our 
Commonwealth hath been chosen by Providence as a depository for this her most 
valuable gift to man, in the presence of which the gold of California must retire 
into insignificance. 

Although coal is usually plain and unpretending in its physical aspect, it can, 
nevertheless, claim relation to the diamond, whose beauty cannot easily be exag- 
gerated, but, unlike coal, it contributes only to the vanity of man, and not to our 
comfort and actual necessity. Both are members of the carboniferous family, and 
almost identical in composition, they are yet wholly dissimilar in appearance, in 
geographical distribution, and in the characters which they have to play in the 
domestic economy of man. As between the two, we venture to say that coal com- 
mends itself more warmly to our favor, and having impressed its stamp very con- 
spicuously upon the age in which we figure, it must be invested with many points 
of interest beyond the mere statistics of commercial value ; its origin, its history, 
and the circumstances of its benevolent mission, deserve to be examined and 
known. Confining ourselves mainly to the anthracite region of Carbon County, 
we will take a retrospective view of circumstances connected with the first devel- 
opments, the glorious results of which we are in the enjoyment of. 

The Lenni Lenape (Indian men) were aware that the Shawenacs (white people) 
were very avaricious, and would deprive them of their lands whenever opportuni- 
ties offered, and notwithstanding laws were enacted over and again, protecting 
them in their possessions, yet constantly their lands were entered upon, even by 
private persons; all the penalties of the laws did not restrain them from such 
encroachments. This led the Indians to be mute as to giving information of 
localities even of the appearance of mineral substances. They knew that reveal- 
ing such would, in a manner, be as an invitation to have their property trespassed 
upon. 

They also used the precaution to place guards where ores or minerals were sup- 
posed to be deposited. Twelve miles above the Indian town of Wyoming (on the 
Susquehanna, where Wilkesbarre is situated) was a silver mine (as they said). 
This they complained to Government, as late as 1766, of being trespassed upon. 
" A trench dug 45 feet long, and six feet deep, from which three boat loads of silver 
ore was taken away." (See Pennsylvania Archives.') 

The Indians were taught the value of silver, copper, or iron, by the white people ; 
as to coal, the probability is that neither the one nor the other knew its value or 
use at that period of time, and consequently it was not noticed in history, yet that 
they knew of the existence of such black stones is apparent. The Moravians, who 
settled at Gnadenhutten (Tents of Grace), about three miles southwardly from 
Mauch Chunk, said that the Indians make their pipe-heads of a soft black stone. 
(Loskiel's History of Indian Missions.) The names of streams in the neighborhood 
also imply such knowledge : Nesquehoning means Black Lick, Nescopeck, black- 
ish deep water. The Dutch and Swedes paid but little attention to mines, yet we 
find that the former had, as early as 1659, discovered copper ores on the north side 
of the Blue Mountain, near the Delaware Water Gap. It is said, in Vol. III. Doc- 
umentary History of New York, that "Claes de Ruyter produced, in 1659, speci- 
mens of the copper ore mines at the Minisinks to the Directors of the West India 
Company at Amsterdam, in Holland." Mineral coal is not mentioned by the his- 
torians of the Dutch or Swedish occupants of New York or Pennsylvania. 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION" COMPANY. 877 

The traders, in passing through the Indian territory, occasionally became 
acquainted with the locations of minerals ; of their knowledge of the existence of 
coal in this region, history is silent, and, even if known, was not considered of any 
value, as they would not have believed that black stoues would burn ; then, also, 
it was considered that there was sufficient timber for fuel for many centuries to 
come. 

The Indian wars of 1755 to 1764, introduced scientific men into the Indian coun- 
try. Such observant gentlemen as Benjamin Franklin and others were deputed to 
superintend the erection of forts on the frontiers, and thus probably became ac- 
quainted with the locations of coal, &c. On a map, published by William Scull 
in 1770, dedicated to the Honorable Thomas and Richard Penn, the proprietaries 
of Pennsylvania, we find the word " coal " laid down at a place in the neighbor- 
hood of Pottsville, or near Minersville, and at another spot about eight or ten miles 
more northward, on the Mahoney Creek. 

But we owe our knowledge of this most valuable of minerals, which now diffuses 
so much of wealth and comfort to a great portion of Pennsylvania, to sheer acci- 
dent. A hunter, by the name of Philip Ginther, who had built himself a rough 
cabin in the forest, on the Mauch Chunk mountain, being out one day in quest of 
food for his family, whom he had left at home without any supply, meeting with 
but poor success, bent his course homeward as night was approaching, considering 
himself one of the most forsaken of human beings. As he trod slowly over the 
ground, his foot stumbled against something, which, by the stroke, was driven 
before him ; observing it to be black, to distinguish which there was just enough 
light remaining, he took it up, and as he had often listened to the traditions of 
the country of the existence of coal in the vicinity, it occurred to him that this 
might be a portion of that " stonecoal " of which he had heard. He accordingly 
carefully took it with him to his cabin, and the next day carried it to Col. Jacob 
Weiss, residing at what was then known as Fort Allen, now Weissport. The 
Colonel, who was alive to the subject, took the specimen to Philadelphia, and sub- 
mitted it to the inspection of John Nicholson and Michael Hillegas, Esqs., and of 
Charles Cist, an intelligent printer, who ascertained its nature and qualities, and 
authorized the Colonel to satisfy Ginther for his discovery upon his pointing out 
the precise spot where he found the coal. This was done by acceding to Ginther's 
proposal of getting through the forms of the Patent Office the title of a small tract 
of land, which he supposed had never been taken up, but which he afterwards was 
unhappily deprived of by the claim of a prior survey. 

Hillegas, Cist, Weiss, Henry, and others, immediately after (about the beginning 
of the year 1792) formed the "Lehigh Coal Mine Company" but without a charter 
of incorporation. They purchased from Jacob Weiss the tract of land on which 
the large opening at Summit Hill is made, and afterwards "took up," under war- 
rants from the Commonwealth, about ten thousand acres of land, embracing about 
five-sixths of the coal lands now owned by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- 
pany. The Coal Mine Company proceeded to open the mines, where they found 
coal in unmistakable quantity, and the only thing that now remained to secure 
the most triumphant success was a market. Standing upon their seam of coal on 
the summit of the mountain, fifteen hundred feet above tide water, the " Lehigh 
Coal Mine Company " looked wistfully over the great expanse of mountain, valley, 
and plain, and up to the arching firmament, for a market. Nothing of the kind 
could be seen, not the slightest glimmer of encouragement was visible ; the sur- 
rounding country was everywhere covered with timber, and what, with the abund- 

26 



378 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMrANY. 

ance and low price of wood, and the want of navigable streams, there was no 
demand for stonecoal near or remote. 

The Company made a small appropriation to construct a road from the mines to 
the landings (nine miles). After many fruitless attempts to get coal to market 
over this nominal road, and by the Lehigh River, which, in seasons of low water, 
in its unimproved state, defied the floating of a canoe over its rocky bed, and after 
calling for contributions of money from the stockholders until calling was useless, 
the Lehigh Coal Mine Company became tired of the experiment, and suffered their 
property to lie idle for some years. But Col. Weiss, notwithstanding the inaus- 
picious circumstances which involved the Company, determined that the coal 
should, at least, be introduced to the acquaintance of the public. He filled his 
saddlebags from time to time, and rode around among the blacksmiths of the lower 
country, earnestly soliciting them to try it. A few accepted the proffered supplies, 
and used it with partial success. Mr. Michael Seip (yet living at Easton) informs 
us that the only manner in which he could succeed in making it burn was by 
pounding it fine and sprinkling it over his charcoal fire.* 

In the year 1806, William Turnbull, Esq., caused an ark to be constructed at 
Lausanne, which took to the city of Philadelphia two or three hundred bushels. 
A portion was sold to the managers of the waterworks, in Centre Square, for the 
use of the steam-engine. Upon trial there it was deemed rather an extinguisher 
than an aliment of fire, was rejected as worthless, and was broken up and spread 
on the walks of the surrounding garden in place of gravel. 

The legislature, early aware of the importance of the navigation of the Lehigh, 
passed an act for its improvement in 1771, and others in 1791, 1794, 1798, 1810, 
1814, and 1816. Under the one of 1798, a company associated, and after expend- 
ing more than $20,000 in clearing out channels, relinquished their design of per- 
fecting the navigation of the river. 



* In the books of William Henry an entry is made in 1798, having received 
from Frederick Sheckler 114 bushels of " stonecoal," for which Mr. Sheckler was 
paid five shillings per bushel (66§ cents), delivered at Nazareth (this would be 
about $18 to $20 per ton). Mr. Henry was then engaged in manufacturing two 
thousand muskets, contracted with Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania. In the 
course of that business, he had employed an excellent blacksmith, residing in 
Nazareth, named Christian Mickseh ; this man was prevailed upon to try to make 
use of this coal, but after three or four days' trial, altering his fire-place frequently, 
placing the too-iron higher or lower, and otherwise using every possible means to 
make it burn, but all to no purpose, became impatient, and in a passion threw all 
the coal he had in his shop into the street, and in an angry mood came running to 
Mr. Henry's house (where the writer then was standing at the front door, a boy 
of about nine years of age), he asked, "Is your father at home ?" I said, "Yes, 
sir." Perceiving that something was going wrong, I entered the house to hear his 
errand ; when he saw my father, he thus addressed him : " I can do nothing with 
your ' black stones,' and therefore threw them out of my shop into the street ; I 
can't make them burn ; if you want any work done with them you may do it 
yourself ; everybody laughs at me for being such a fool as to try to make stones 
burn, and they say that you must be a fool for bringing them to Nazareth." 

In 1808, there appears a charge in W. Henry's books for 37 bushels of stonecoal 
sent to Oliver Evans, of Mars Iron Works, in Philadelphia, from Nazareth, but as 
there is no subsequent entry, we must suppose that that large quantity served Mr. 
Evans a long time. 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 879 

In the meanwhile, the Coal Mine Company, desirous to render their property 
available, granted leases to several individuals successively, one of them, in 1807 
(upon one of the coal veins), to Rowland and Butland, for twenty-one years, with 
the privilege of digging iron ore and coal gratis, for the manufacture of iron. This 
business was abandoned, together with the lease, as, from some cause, they did 
not succeed in their work. 

In December, 1813, the Company made a lease for ten years of their lands to 
Messrs. Miner, Cist, and Robinson, with the right of cutting lumber on the lands 
for building boats ; the whole consideration for this lease was to be the annual 
introduction into market of ten thousand bushels of coal for the benefit of the les- 
sees. Five ark loads of coal were despatched by these gentlemen from the landing 
at Mauch Chunk, two of which reached Philadelphia, the others having been 
wrecked on their passage. Four dollars per ton were paid to a contractor for the 
hauling of this coal from the mines to the landing over the road above referred to, 
and the contractor lost money. The principal part of the coal which arrived at 
Philadelphia was purchased, at twenty one dollars per ton, by White and Hazard, 
who were then manufacturing wire at the Falls of Schuylkill. But even this price 
did not remunerate the owners for their losses and expenses in getting the coal to 
market, and they were consequently compelled to abandon the prosecution of the 
business, and, of course, did not comply with the terms of the lease. 

The following interesting letter from Mr. Charles Miner to the Chairman of the 
Committee appointed by the Senate of Pennsylvania to report on the coal trade of 
the State, gives a graphic account of the difficulties, losses, &c, of himself and 
associates : — 

Wilkesbarre, November 17, 1833. 
Samuel J. Packer, Esq. 

Dear Sir : Your favor of the 7th instant was duly received. I avail myself of 
the first moment of leisure to give you " some account of the discovery of the 
Mauch Chunk coal, and the measures devised, at an early day, to bring it to mar- 
ket.'*" A hunter first discovered the black earth that covers the coal at the old 
mine at Mauch Chunk, and reported the extraordinary appearance to Jacob Weiss, 
Esq., an intelligent gentleman, who resided at Lehighton, within ten or twelve 
miles of the spot. An examination was immediately made, and anthracite coal 
found within ten feet of the surface. The land being extremely rough and barren, 
had not been appropriated, but was forthwith taken out of the Land Office by Mr. 
Weiss, and a company formed, principally of public spirited citizens of Philadel- 
phia ; the mine was partially opened, and some small parcels taken to the city. 
The difficulty of kindling the coal, and the facility of obtaining that from Liver- 
pool and Virginia, prevented its introduction into use, and this, with a hundred 
other projects of the day, slept, was forgotten by the public, and scarcely remem- 
bered by the owners of the stock. 

After twenty years' repose, the subject was awakened by the late war. Jesse 
Fell, Associate Judge of Luzerne County, one of the most public spirited and esti- 
mable citizens of Wyoming, after various experiments, had shown the practica- 
bility of burning anthracite coal in grates, and the article had been extensively 
used in Wilkesbarre and the neighboring towns for several years previous to the 
commencement of hostilities, and the value of it here was known and properly 
appreciated. Commerce being suspended with England, and the coasting trade 
interrupted by British cruisers, so that neither foreign nor Virginia coal could be 
procured, fuel of all sorts, and especially coal for manufacturing purposes, rose in 



880 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

Philadelphia to very high prices. Jacob Cist, of Wilkesbarre, my intimate and 
much lamented friend, had derived from his father a few shares of the Lehigh 
Coal Company's stock. Sitting by a glowing anthracite fire one evening in his 
parlor, conversation turned to the Lehigh coal, and we resolved to make an exam- 
ination of the mines at Mauch Chunk, and the Lehigh River, to satisfy ourselves 
whether it would be practicable to convey coal from thence by the stream to Phil- 
adelphia. Mr. Robinson, a mutual friend, active as a man of business, united 
with us in the enterprise. Towards the close of 1813, we visited Mauch Chunk ? 
examined the mines, made all the inquiries suggested by prudence respecting the 
navigation of the Lehigh, and made up our minds to hazard the experiment if a 
sufficiently liberal arrangement could be made with the Company. Our proposi- 
tions were met with the utmost promptitude and liberality by Godfrey Haga, the 
President, Mr. Wampole, Secretary, and the members. A lease was obtained, 
giving us liberty, for ten years, to take what coal we pleased, and to use what 
lumber we could find and might need, on their tract of ten thousand acres of land, 
the only consideration exacted being that we should work the mines, and every 
year take to the city a small quantity of coal, the coal to remain our own. The 
extremely favorable terms of the lease to us, will show how low the property was 
then estimated, how difficult a matter it was then deemed to bring the coal to 
market, and how great were the obstacles to bringing it into common use. 

During the winter of 1813-14, Mr. Robinson commenced operations by opening 
the mines both at Room Run and on the mountain ; but other more inviting 
objects presenting, he disposed of his part in the concern to William Hillhouse, 
of New Haven, Connecticut. Mr. Cist then managed his own part of the business. 
June 2d, 1814, Mr. Hillhouse and myself entered into partnership, the manage- 
ment being left principally with me. 

The situation of Mauch Chunk, in the midst of barren mountains, and a sparse 
population, rendered it necessary to obtain provisions, teams, miners, ark builders, 
and other workmen from a distance. I made immediate arrangements to enter in 
business, and on the 8th June arrived at Lausanne (fifty miles from Wilkesbarre 
by the then travelled road) with my hands, and took up my very comfortable 
quarters with Mr. Klotz. 

On Tuesday the 9th of August, I being absent, and there being a fresh in the 
river, Mr. Cist started off my first ark, 65 feet long, 14 feet wide, with 24 tons of 
coal ; John Rhoads, pilot ; Abiel Abbott [see note 1 ], Daniel Blair, Johnathan Mott, 
Joseph Thomas, and John Thomas, on board as assistants. The stream wild — full 
of rocks, and the imperfect channel crooked, in less than eighty rods from the 
place of starting, the ark struck on a ledge, and broke a hole in her bow. The 
lads stripped themselves nearly naked, to stop the rush of water with their clothes. 
At dusk they were at Easton, fifty miles. On Wednesday morning they sailed 
from Easton, Peter Hawk, pilot ; Daniel Blair and Joseph Thomas, assistants, 
Rhoads and the other hands returning ; and at night the ark arrived at Black's 
Eddy. Thursday, 11th, went six miles below Trenton. Here James Gedders, a 
new pilot, took her in charge, Hawk returning. Friday, 12th, arrived at Burling- 
ton; 13th, to Ten Mile point; Sunday, 14th, arrived at the city at 8 A. M. ; Mon- 
day, unloaded and delivered the coal to Messrs. Steelwaggon & Knight, selected by 
Mr. Cist as our agents. 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 381 

Expenses of the passage and hands down and returning . . . $28 27 

Wages, including three pilots 47 50 

$ 75 77 

Ark (cost high from inconvenience of building) ..... 130 00 

24 tons coal, raising from mine ........ 24 00 

Hauling !■) miles to landing, at $4 a ton [see note 2] . . . . 96 00 

Loading into ark 5 00 



$330 77 



So that, in the first experiment, the coal cost us about fourteen dollars a ton in 
the city. 

I have been somewhat minute in giving you these details, because this ark was 
the pioneer, and led off the coal trade by the Lehigh to Philadelphia, now so ex- 
tensive and important. This effort of ours might be regarded as the acorn, from 
which has sprung the mighty oak of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. 

But while we pushed forward our labors at the mine — hauling coal, building 
arks, &c. — we had the greater difficulty to overcome of inducing the public to use 
our coal when brought to their doors, much as it was needed. We published 
handbills in English and German, stating the mode of burning the coal, either in 
grates, smiths' fires, or in stoves. Numerous certificates were obtained and printed 
from blacksmiths and others, who had successfully used the anthracite. Mr. Cist 
formed a model of a coal stove, and got a number cast. Together we went to 
several houses in the city, and prevailed on the masters to allow us to kindle fires 
of anthracite in their grates, erected to burn Liverpool coal. We attended at 
blacksmiths' shops, and persuaded some to alter the too-iron, so that they might 
burn the Lehigh coal; and we were sometimes obliged to bribe the journeymen 
to try the experiment fairly, so averse were they to learning the use of a new sort 
of fuel, so different from what they had been accustomed to. Great as were our 
united exertions (and Mr. Cist, if they were meritorious, deserves the chief com- 
mendation), necessity accomplished more for us than our own labors. Charcoal 
advanced in price, and was difficult to be got. Manufacturers were forced to try 
the experiment of using the anthracite ; and every day's experience convinced 
them, and those who witnessed the fires, of the great value of this coal. Josiah 
White, then engaged in some manufacture of iron, with characteristic enterprise 
and spirit, brought the article into successful use in his works, and learned, as 
we have understood, from purchases made of our agent, its incomparable value. 

We sent down a considerable number of arks, three out of four of which stove 
and sunk by the way. Heavy, however, as was the loss, it was lessened by the 
sale, at moderate prices, of the cargoes, as they lay along the shores, or in the bed 
of the Lehigh, to the smiths of Allentown, Bethlehem, and the country around, 
who drew them away when the water became low. We were just learning that 
our arks were far too large, and the loads too heavy for the stream, and were 
making preparations to build coal boats to carry eight or ten tons each, that would 
be connected together when they arrived at Easton. Much had been taught us by 
experience, but at a heavy cost, by the operations of 1814-15. Peace came, and 
found us in the midst of our enterprise. Philadelphia was now opened to foreign 
commerce, and the coasting trade resumed.- Liverpool and Richmond coal came 
in abundantly, and the hard-kindling anthracite fell to a price far below the cost 
of shipment. I need hardly add, the business was abandoned, leaving several 
hundred tons of coal at the pit's mouth, and the most costly part of the work done 



382 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

to take out some thousands of tons more. Our disappointment and losses were 
met with the spirit of youth and enterprise. We turned our attention to other 
branches of industry, but on looking back on the ruins of our (not unworthy) exer- 
tions, I have not ceased to hope and believe that the Lehigh Navigation and Coal 
Company, when prosperity begins to reward them for their most valuable labors, 
would tender to us a fair compensation at least for the work done, and expenditures 
made, which contributed directly to their advantage. 

I mentioned that Josiah White had used coal sent down by us. Sagacious, 
ardent, and of expanded views, no mind in the city was more capable of seeing at 
a glance to what account the vast deposits of coal might be turned. Perfecting 
an artificial navigation along a rapid river, was to him a familiar enterprise. With 
his partners, Messrs. Hauto and Hazard, he took measures to obtain possession of, 
those mines, and a charter for the Lehigh Navigation and Coal Company. The 
rest is matter of public history. 

As one of the pioneers in the great work of introducing the use of anthracite 
coal into our cities, and upon the sea-board, I cannot but look back with pride and 
pleasure upon the success which has followed and grown upon our humble exer- 
tions, a success infinitely beyond the utmost stretch of our imaginations. Judg- 
ing from what has been accomplished within the last ten years on the Lehigh, on 
the Schuylkill, and by the Hudson and Delaware Coal Company, I do not question 
that, in less than ten years more, anthracite coal from the Wyoming and Lacka- 
wanna Valleys will be in extensive use throughout the Genesee country, on the 
lakes, at Detroit, Kingston, York, Montreal, and Quebec. 

Note 1. — My friend, Mr. Abiel Abbott, who kindly volunteered his services, to 
see the ark through the rough water, and to whose spirit we were mainly indebted 
for saving her from sinking when she stove on the rocks, is now justly raised by 
merit to the highly responsible station of superintendent of the Lehigh Navigation 
and Coal Company's extensive business at Mauch Chunk. 

Note 2. — The fact may not be uninteresting, that we were obliged to pay four 
dollars, and for much of the coal hauled, four dollars and fifty cents a ton, over 
an exceedingly rough road of nine miles, where now, by railway, it is transported 
for twenty -five cents a ton. Such are the triumphs of human industry and art ! 
Such is the difference between the first experimental steps in a great undertaking, 
and the work perfected by capital and skill. 

All which is respectfully submitted, by 

Dear sir, your friend and servant, 

CHARLES MINER. 

As we have before remarked, during the war Virginia coal became very scarce, 
and Messrs. White & Hazard, then engaged in the manufacture of iron wire at the . 
Falls of the Schuylkill, having learned that Mr. J. Malin had succeeded in the use of 
Lehigh coal at his rolling-mill, procured a cart-load of it, which cost them a dollar 
per bushel. This quantity was entirely wasted, without getting up the requisite 
heat. Another cart-load, however, was obtained, and a whole night was spent in 
endeavoring to make a fire in the furnace, when the hands shut the furnace-door, 
and departed from the mill in despair. Fortunately, one of them, who had left 
his jacket in the mill, returning for it in about half an hour, observed the door of 
the furnace to be red-hot, and, upon opening it, was surprised to find the interior 
at glowing white heat. The other hands were summoned, and four separate par- 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 383 

eels of iron were heated by tlie same fire, and rolled, before renewal. The furnace 
was then replenished, and as letting the fire alone had succeeded so well, that 
method was tried again, with a like result. Thenceforth Messrs. W. & H. con- 
tinued the use of anthracite coal, which they procured from Schuylkill County in 
wagons, and occasionally in flats by freshets, and also from the Lehigh in one of 
Messrs. Miner & Co.'s arks. 

Thus instructed in the invaluable properties of anthracite, and finding in 1817 
they could not obtain it as cheaply from the Schuylkill region as they were led to 
believe it could be procured from the Lehigh, they determined that Josiah White 
should visit the Lehigh mines and river, and obtain the necessary information on 
the subject. In this visit he was joined by George F. A. Hauto. Upon their return, 
and making a favorable report, it was ascertained that the lease on the mining 
property was forfeited by non user, and that the law — the last of six which had 
been passed for the improvement of the navigation of the river — had just expired 
by its own limitation. Under these circumstances the Lehigh Coal Mine Company 
became completely dispirited, and executed a lease to Messrs. White, Hauto, and 
Hazard, for twenty years, of their whole property, on the conditions that, after a 
given time for preparation, they should deliver for their own benefit at least forty 
thousand bushels of coal annually in Philadelphia and the districts, and should 
pay, upon demand, one ear of corn as an annual rent for the property. 

Having obtained the lease, these gentlemen applied to the legislature for an act 
to authorize them to improve the navigation of the Lehigh, stating in their peti- 
tion their obj ect of getting coal to market, and that they had a plan for the cheap 
improvement of river navigation, which they hoped would serve as a model for 
the improvement of many other streams in the State. Their project was considered 
chimerical, the improvement of the Lehigh particularly being deemed impracti- 
cable, from the failure of the various companies who had undertaken it under 
previous laws, one of which had the privilege of raising money by lottery. The 
act of 20th of March, 1818, however, gave these gentlemen the opportunity of 
" ruining themselves," as many members of the legislature predicted would be 
the result of their undertaking. The various powers applied for, and which were 
granted in the act, embraced the whole scope of tried and untried methods of 
effecting the object of getting "a navigation downward once in three days for 
boats loaded with one hundred barrels, or ten tons," with the reservation on the 
part of the legislature of the right to compel the adoption of a complete slack- 
water navigation from Easton to Stoddartsville, should they not deem the mode of 
navigation adopted by the undertakers sufficient for the wants of the country. 

Messrs. White and Hazard, having levelled the river from Stoddartsville to 
Easton, in the month of April, 1818, with instruments borrowed of the Delaware 
and Schuylkill Canal Company (the only instruments at that time to be met with 
in Philadelphia), and having also taken the levels from the river to the coal-mines, 
to ascertain that a road could be constructed altogether on a descending grade 
from the coal to the navigation, and having ascertained, from the concurrent testi- 
mony of persons residing in the neighborhood, that the water in the river never 
fell, in the driest seasons, below a certain mark in a rock at the Lausanne land- 
ing, were satisfied that there would always be a sufficiency of water in-the river to 
give the depth and width of water required by the law, if the water were confined 
by wing dams and channel walls in its passage over the "riffles" from pool to pool. 
This plan was therefore decided upon for the improvement of the navigation, as 
well as the use of flat-bottomed boats, to be constructed for each voyage from the 



384: LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION- COMPANY. 

timber lands which were purchased for this purpose on the upper section of the 
Lehigh. 

It may not be uninteresting to state the situation of the country along the Le- 
high, as they found it at this period. From Stoddartsville to Lausanne, a distance 
of thirty-five miles, there was no sign of a human habitation ; everything was in 
the state of nature. The ice had not yet left the shores of the river, which runs 
for almost the whole of this distance in a deep ravine between hills from four 
hundred to one thousand feet high, and so abrupt that but few places occur where 
a man on horseback can ascend them. The adjacent country, though in many 
parts well covered with timber, had only a nominal value, as all hope of getting 
it to market was extinguished by the repeated failures of all attempts to improve 
the navigation, which was now considered impossible. The fall in this part of the 
river was ascertained to be, from Stoddartsville to Mauch Chunk, nine hundred 
and ten feet, or, on the average, about twenty-five feet to the mile. Above the 
gap in the Blue Mountain there were but thirteen houses, including the towns of 
Lausanne and Lehighton, within sight from the river. Below the gap the country 
was improved. Rafts were sent, during freshets, from Lausanne downward, but 
no raft had ever come from above that point. From Mauch Chunk to Easton the 
fall was three hundred and sixty-four feet, making the whole fall from Stoddarts- 
ville to Easton twelve hundred and seventy-four feet. 

The great first and second anthracite coal regions were then entirely unknown 
as such. Coal had been found on the summit hill, and also at the Beaver Mea- 
dows ; but there was then no knowledge that there were in each location continu- 
ous strata of coal for many miles in extent, in each direction from these two points. 
Indeed, the old Coal Mine Company for some years offered a bonus of two hundred 
dollars to any one who should discover coal on their lands, nearer to the Lehigh 
than the- Summit mines, but without its being claimed. The use of the coal from 
these locations was confined to the forge fires of the neighboring blacksmiths and 
the bar-room stoves of the taverns along the road. Wood was almost the only 
fuel used in Philadelphia, and that and bituminous coal supplied the fire-places of 
New York and eastern cities. The only canal in Pennsylvania, at that time in 
navigable order, was one of about two miles in length, at York Haven, on the 
Susquehanna, and one made by Josiah White at the Falls of Schuylkill, with two 
locks, and a canal three or four hundred yards long. 

It was under these circumstances that the legislature of 1818 granted the privi- 
leges of the "act to improve the navigation of the river Lehigh," to Josiah White, 
George F. A. Hauto, and Erskine Hazard, which are now considered of such im- 
mense magnitude that they ought never to have been granted, and that those 
gentlemen were at that time pointed at as extremely visionary, and even crazy, 
for accepting them. 

Having obtained the law, the lease on the coal-mines, and the necessary in- 
formation respecting them, and decided upon the plan of making the improve- 
ments, the next step of the pioneers was to raise the necessary capital for carrying 
on the work. Preliminary to this they published, in pamphlet form, a description 
of the property, and the privileges annexed to it, and proposed to create a company 
to improve the navigation and work the coal-mines. 

The stock of this company was subscribed for on the condition that a committee 
should proceed to the Lehigh and satisfy themselves that the actual state of affairs 
corresponded with the representation of them. The Committee consisted of two 
of our most respectable citizens, both men of much mechanical experience and 





so*" 



/^^-—i^^t^f 



&^h& 




Supt. 8cEn§. Lehigh Canal 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 385 

ingenuity. They repaired to Maucli Chunk, visited the coal-mines, and then built 
a bateau at Lausanne, in which they descended the Lehigh and made their ob- 
servations. They both came to the conclusion, and so reported, that the improve- 
ment of the navigation was perfectly practicable, and that it would not exceed the 
cost of fifty thousand dollars, as estimated, but that the making of a good road to 
the mines was utterly impossible; "for," added one of them, "to give you an idea 
of the country over which the road is to pass, I need only tell you that I considered 
it quite an easement when the wheel of my carriage struck a stump instead of a 
stone !" This report, of course, voided the subscription to the joint stock. 

It very soon appeared that there was great diversity of opinion relative to the 
value of the two objects. Some were willing to join in the improvement of the 
navigation, but had no faith in the value of the coal, or that a market could ever 
be found for it among a population accustomed wholly to the use of wood. On the 
other hand, some were of the opinion that the navigation would never pay the 
interest of its cost, while the coal business would prove profitable. This gave rise 
to the separation of the two interests ; and proposals were issued for raising a 
capital of fifty thousand dollars, on the terms that those who furnished the money 
should have all the profits accruing from the navigation up to twenty-five per 
cent., all profits beyond that to go to White, Hauto, and Hazard, who also retained 
the exclusive management of the concern. The amount was subscribed, and the 
company formed, under the title of the "Lehigh Navigation Company,'''' on the 10th 
of August, 1818. The work was immediately commenced, the managers taking up 
their quarters in a boat upon the Lehigh, which moved downwards as the work of 
constructing the wing-dams progressed. The hands employed had similar accom- 
modations. 

On the 21st of October of the same year "The Lehigh Coal Oonrpany" was 
formed, for the purpose of making a road from the river to the mines, and of bring- 
ing coal to market by the new navigation. The capital subscribed to this com- 
pany was fifty-five thousand dollars, and was taken on the same plan, with that of 
the Navigation Company ; but the managers were to be entitled to all the profits 
above twenty per cent., they conveying the lease of the coal mine company's land, 
and also several other tracts of land which they had purchased, to trustees, for 
the benefit of the association. The road which now, for seven miles, constitutes 
the grading of the railroad to the Summit mines, was laid out in the fall of 1818, 
and finished in 1819. This is believed to have been the first road ever laid out 
by an instrument, on the principle of dividing the whole descent into the whole 
distance, as regularly as the ground would admit of, and to have no undulation. 
It was intended for a railroad, as soon as the business would warrant the exx^ense 
of placing rails upon it. A pair of horses would bring down from four to six tons 
upon it, in two wagons. 

Everything was thus making satisfactory advances towards the accomplishment 
of the object, when, late in the season of 1818, the water in the river fell, by an 
unparalleled drought, as was believed, fully twelve inches below the mark which 
has been mentioned as shown by the inhabitants to be the lowest point to which 
the river ever sunk. Here was a difficulty totally unanticipated, and one which 
required a very essential alteration in the plan. Nature did not furnish enough 
water, by the regular flow of the river, to keep the channels at the proper depth, 
owing to the very great fall in the river, and the consequent rapidity of its motion. 
It became necessary to accumulate water by artificial means, and let it off at stated 
periods, and let the boats pass down with the long wave thus formed, which filled 
up the channels. 



386 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

This was effected by constructing clams in the neighborhood of Mauch Chunk, 
in which were placed sluice-gates of a peculiar construction, invented for the purpose 
by Josiah White (one of the managers), by means of which the water could be 
retained in the pool above, until required for use. When the dam became full, 
and the water had run over it long enough for the river below the dam to acquire 
the depth of the ordinary flow of the river, the sluice-gates were let down, and 
the boats, which were lying in the pools above, passed down with the artificial 
flood. About twelve of these dams and sluices were made in 1819, and, with what 
work had been done in making wing-dams, absorbed the capital of the company 
(which, on the first plan of improvement, would have been adequate), before the 
whole of the dams were completely protected from ice freshets. They were, how- 
ever, so far completed as to prove, in the fall of that year, that they were capable 
of producing the required depth of water from Mauch Chunk to Easton. 

The following letter from Geo. F. A. Hauto, to a member of the legislature, re- 
lative to the impi'ovements, will be found interesting. 

Mauch Chunk:, Northampton County, Pa., December 19, 1819. 

" You know, I believe, the ground between this and our principal coal mine, and 
that it would hardly be possible to find a more unfavorable one for the construc- 
tion of a good road — so much so, that when we determined on making it, many of 
our friends doubted our being compos mentis. The perpendicular elevation from 
the river (at this place, where it ends) to this mine, is 1000 feet — the distance from 
it to the river is upwards of eight miles. Down it, and following the windings of 
the mountain, which runs nearly at right angles to the river, we constructed, in 
about three months, and most part of it in the winter season, a road having a regu- 
lar declination of two and a half feet in every hundred feet, and which is acknow- 
ledged by those who have seen it, not to have (for its distance) its equal in the 
confederacy. On it, one horse can draw four tons with ease. 

" This mine, at our arrival, had quite an inconsiderable opening, like a moderate 
sized stone quarry ; since which we have uncovered about two acres of coal land, 
removing all the earth, dirt, slate, &c. (about twelve feet deep), so as to leave a 
surface for the whole of that area, of nothing but the purest coal, containing mil- 
lions of bushels. We cut a passage through the rocks, so that now the teams 
drive right into the mine to load. The mine being situated near the summit of 
the mountain, we are not troubled with water, and the coal quarries very easy. 
We have worked the stratum about thirty feet deep ; how much deeper it is, we 
do not know ; probably Captain Symmes will find the end of it worked by our bre- 
thren within, when he gets under Mauch Chunk. At any rate, ocular demonstra- 
tion proves it to be sufficient for the utmost consumption of centuries to come. 
The effect of our road has already been, that it enables us to sell the coal at the 
landing here, where we have a large quantity, cheaper than the price our predeces- 
sor (Mr. Cist) had to pay for the hauling only. On this road we have now a suffi- 
cient number of teams to haul several thousand bushels of coal per day. We 
employ at present mostly oxen and large carts, except a few horse wagons, each of 
which loads nine tons. We are constructing a steam wagon, contrived by Mr. 
Hazard, which will be ready in a week (as a substitute for cattle), to draw our 
coal. Should we succeed in this experiment, the second one, on a larger scale, will 
be immediately put on the stocks, and followed by others, so as to have a sufficient 
number for our spring operations. All the works for the steam-engine, except some 
rough castings, were made and finished on a spot which was, twelve months ago, 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 387 

a wilderness, and where, within the period of a generation, the Lenape filled the 
air with their war-whoops. 

" We have erected about forty buildings for different purposes, amongst which 
is a saw-mill driven by the river, for the purpose of sawing stuff for the use of the 
navigation. It has a gang to which twenty-four saws belong, cutting about 20,000 
feet per day, on one side, and a circular saw on the other. One other saw-mill, 
driven by the Mauch Chunk ; a grist-mill, a mill for saving labor in the construc- 
tion of wagons, &c, also driven by the creek — smitheries, with eight fires — work- 
shops, dwellings, shipyards, wharves, &c. &c. We have cut about 15,000 saw-logs, 
and cleared four hundred acres of land. 

" On the river, notwithstanding the extreme low water, which prevented our 
floating the timber used in the construction of our dams, to the spots wanted , we 
have constructed fifty dams (measuring 38,500 feet, or about seven and a half 
miles), and thirteen locks. The locks are the invention of Mr. White, and will be 
found, in every respect, superior to those now in use. Should it be desired, I will 
send you a description of them. Our brave boys worked in the river till the ice 
drove them out last week. 

" Just before the winter set in, we had the satisfaction to ascertain, by taking a 
couple of our coal boats down loaded as far as our improvements extended (the 
water being ten inches under the common low water mark), that the plan of creat- 
ing artificial freshets in time of extreme low water, which formed the basis of our 
plan of improvement, is correct, and answers fully our expectations, and would 
have enabled us, had the river kept open a few days longer, to take all our arks 
down to the city. To complete the improvement of the lower part of the river, 
will take us, should the season be any way favorable, till some time in June next, 
when we shall apply for inspection, and commence the upper section of the river. 

" As everything that relates to internal improvement is viewed with great inte- 
rest by \is, we beg that you will take the trouble to communicate to us, at an early 
hour, anything in that line which may come before the legislature. And as the 
Delaware — being part of our turnpike to an ultimate market — interests us more 
particularly, we would thank you for the earliest information respecting any offer 
for its improvement." 

In the spring of 1820 the ice severely injured several of the unprotected dams, 
and carried away some of the sluice-gates. This situation of things, of course, 
gave rise to many difficulties. It was necessary that more money should be 
raised, or the work must be abandoned. A difficulty also arose among the man- 
agers themselves, which resulted in White and Hazard making an arrangement 
with Hauto for his interest in the concern, on the 7th of March, 1S20. On the 21st 
of April following, the Lehigh Coal Company and the Lehigh Navigation Company 
agreed to amalgamate their interests, and to unite themselves into one company, under 
the title of the " Lehigh Navigation and Coed Company" provided the additional 
sum of twenty thousand dollars was subscribed to the stock by a given date. Of 
this sum nearly three-fifths were subscribed by White and Hazard. With this 
aid the navigation was repaired, and three hundred and sixty-Jive tons of coal were 
sent to Philadelphia, as the first fruits of the concern! This quantity of coal com- 
pletely stocked the market, and was with difficulty disposed of in the year 1820. 
It will be recollected that no anthracite coal came to market from any other source 
than the Lehigh before the year 1825, as a regular business. 

The money capital of the concern was soon found to require an increase. The 
work was done, with the exception of one place at the " slates," where the channel 



388 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

and wing walls were made over the smooth surface of slate ledges, which projected 
alternately from one side of the river nearly to the other, and rose to within four 
inches of the surface of the water for a considerable distance along the river. From 
the nature of the ground, it was impossible to make the wing walls remain tight 
enough to keep the water at the required height, and it was evident that a solid 
dam must be resorted to, to bury the slates permanently to a sufficient depth 
below the surface. This, it was estimated, could not be erected at a less cost than 
twenty thousand dollars. To raise this sum, in the circumstances of the Company, 
was a difficult task. The small quantity of coal which had been brought down 
having so completely filled the market, and the inexperience in the use of that 
species of fuel having excited so many prejudices against it, that many of the 
stockholders doubted whether it would be possible to introduce the coal into 
general use, even if the navigation were made perfect. While this difficulty was 
in the process of arrangement, the work was kept alive by the advances of one of 
the managers. At length, on the 1st of May, 1821, a new arrangement of the 
whole concern took place, by which all the interests became more closely amal- 
gamated. The title of the Company was changed to — " The Lehigh Coal and Navi- 
gation Company." It was agreed that the capital stock should be increased by 
new subscriptions, and that in consideration thereof, and of certain shares of the 
stock to be given to them, J. White and E. Hazard would release to the Company 
all their reserved exclusive rights and privileges, and residuary profits, and con- 
vey to trustees, for the use of the Company, all their right to the water power of 
the river Lehigh, and come in as simple stockholders ; the Company, at the same 
time, assuming the settlement of Hauto's claim upon White and Hazard. It was, 
however, agreed that the subscribers to the new stock should have the benefit of 
all the profits up to three per cent, semi-annually ; then the original stockholders 
became entitled to the profits until they derived semi-annual dividends of three 
per cent. ; and, finally, any excess of profit beyond these was to go to the stock 
allotted to J. White and E. Hazard, until the profit in any six months should be 
sufficient to produce a three per cent, dividend on all the stock. From that time 
all discrimination in the stock was to cease, and all the owners to come in for an 
equal share of the profits in the proportion of shares of stock held by them. 

The business of the Company was to be carried on by five managers, two of 
whom were to reside at Mauch Chunk, under the title of acting managers, and 
superintend the navigation and coal department, while the others took care of the 
finances. 

After this agreement was made, a number of the stockholders and their friends 
visited the works and property of the Company, and although they expressed 
themselves agreeably disappointed in the appearance of things, yet the doubt of 
the possibility of getting a market for the coal induced a timidity in subscribing 
to fifty thousand dollars of new stock, which was only overcome by J. White and 
E. Hazard transferring, as a bonus to those who would subscribe, an amount of the 
stock held by them equal to twenty per cent, on the amount of the new subscrip- 
tion. In this way the whole fifty thousand dollars was subscribed. The dam and 
lock at the slates were erected, and one thousand and seventy -three tons of coal 
were sent to Philadelphia in 1821. 

The unincorporated situation of the Company, now that its operations were 
becoming more extensive, caused uneasiness among the stockholders with regard 
to their personal liabilities, and necessarily operated as a check to the prosperous 
extension of the business. In addition to which, the whole property and interests 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 389 

of the concern were virtually mortgaged to the holders of the fifty thousand dollars 
of new stock, which would render any extension of the capital excessively difficult. 
To remedy these difficulties, application was made to the legislature, who, on the 
13th of February, 1822, granted the act of incorporation under which the Company 
are now operating. In this year the capital stock of the company was increased 
by new subscriptions amounting to $83,950, and two thousand two hundred and 
forty tons of coal were sent to market. 

The boats used on this descending navigation consisted of square boxes, or arks, 
from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, and twenty to twenty-five feet long. At first, 
two of these were joined together by hinges, to allow them to bend up and down 
in passing the dams and sluices, and as the men became accustomed to the work, 
and the channels were straightened and improved as experience dictated, the 
number of sections in each boat was increased, till at last their whole length 
reached one hundred and eighty feet. They were steered with long oars, like a 
raft. Machinery was devised for jointing and putting together the planks of which 
these boats were made, and the hands became so expert that five men would put 
one of the sections together and launch it in forty-five minutes. Boats of this 
description were used on the Lehigh till the end of the year 1831, when the Dela- 
ware division of the Pennsylvania Canal was partially finished. In the last year 
forty thousand nine hundred and sixty-six tons were sent down, which required 
so many boats to be built, that, if they had all been joined in one length, they 
would have extended more than thirteen miles. These boats made but one trip, 
and were then broken up in the city, and the planks sold for lumber, the spikes, 
hinges, and other iron work, being returned to Mauch Chunk by land, a distance 
of eighty miles. The hands employed in running these boats walked back for 
two or three years, when rough wagons were placed upon the road by some of the 
tavern keepers, to carry them at reduced fares. 

During the low water upon the Delaware, it was found necessary to improve 
several of the channels of that river, and in this way about five thousand dollars 
were expended by the Lehigh Company, under the authority of the commissioners 
appointed by the State, for the improvement of the Delaware channels, whose 
funds were exhausted. 

The descending navigation by artificial freshets on the Lehigh is the first on 
record which was used as a permanent thing ; though it is stated that in the ex- 
pedition in 1779, under General Sullivan, General James Clinton successfully made 
use of the expedient to extricate his division of the army from some difficulty on 
the east branch of the Susquehanna, by erecting a temporary dam across the outlet 
of Otsego Lake, which accumulated water enough to float them, when let off, and 
carry them down the river. 

The descending navigation of the Lehigh was inspected, and the Governor's 
license to take toll upon it obtained on the 17th of January, 1823, it having been 
in use for two years previous to the inspection. No toll was charged upon it till 
1827. 

The great consumption of lumber for the boats very soon made it evident that 
the coal business could not be carried on, even on a small scale, without a com- 
munication by water with the pine forests, about sixteen miles above Mauch Chunk, 
on the upper section of the Lehigh. To obtain this was very difficult. The river, 
in that distance, had a fall of about three hundred feet, over a very rough, rocky 
bed, with shores so forbidding that in only two places above Lausanne had horses 
been got down to the river. To improve the navigation it became necessary to 



890 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

commence operations at the upper end, and to cart all the tools and provisions hy 
a circuitous and rough road through the wilderness, and then to build a boat for 
each load to be sent down to the place where the hands were at work by the chan- 
nels which they had previously prepared. Before these channels were effected, 
an attempt was made to send down planks, singly, from the pine swamp, but they 
became bruised and broken by the rocks before they reached Mauch Chunk. 
Single saw-logs were then tried, and men sent down to clear them from the rocks 
as they became fast. But it frequently happened that, when they got near Mauch 
Chunk, a sudden rise of the water would sweep them off, and they were lost. 
These difficulties were overcome by the completion of these channels in 1823, which 
gave rise to an increase of the capital stock, at the same time, of ninety-six thou- 
sand and fifty dollars, making the whole amount subscribed five hundred thousand 
dollars. In this year, also, five thousand eight hundred and twenty-three tons of 
coal were sent to market, of which about one thousand tons remained unsold in 
the following spring, there being still a great prej udice against the domestic use of 
coal. This prejudice was, however, on the wane, and very soon after this time 
became nearly extinct. 

In 1825 the demand for coal increased so much that twenty-eight thousand three 
hundred and ninety-three tons were sent down the Lehigh, and the coal trade on 
the Schuylkill now commenced by their sending down by that navigation seven 
thousand one hundred and forty-three tons. 

It became evident that the business on the Lehigh could not be extended as 
fast as the demand for coal increased, while it was necessary to build a new boat 
for each load of coal ; besides, the forests were now beginning to feel the waste of 
timber (more than four hundred acres a year being cut off), and showed plainly 
enough that they would soon disappear, in consequence of the increased demand 
upou them ; while, at the same time, the Schuylkill coal region had an uninter- 
rupted slackwater navigation, which would accommodate boats in their passage 
up as well as down, and, of course, admitted any extension of the coal trade that 
might be deemed advisable. It should also be mentioned that almost the whole 
of the shares of the stock of the old "Coal Mine Company" had been jyurchased, 
so that the mines had become nearly the sole property of the Lehigh Coal and 
Navigation Company. These shares represented fiftieth parts of the whole pro- 
perty, and the purchase of them commenced at one hundred and fifty dollars per 
share ; the last was purchased for two thousand dollars, after the slackwater 
navigation had been made. Under all these circumstances, it was concluded that 
the time had arrived for changing the navigation of the Lehigh into a slackwater 
navigation. The acting managers, who resided at Mauch Chunk, formed a plan 
for a steamboat navigation, with locks one hundred and thirty feet long, and thirty 
feet wide, which would accommodate a steamboat carrying one hundred and fifty 
tons of coal. These locks were of a peculiar construction, adapted to river navi- 
gation. The gates operated upon the same principle with the sluice-gates in the 
dams for making artificial freshets, and were raised or let down by the application 
or removal of a hydrostatic pressure below them. The first mile below Mauch 
Chunk was arranged for this kind of navigation. The locks proved to be perfectly 
effective, and could be filled or emptied, notwithstanding their magnitude, in three 
minutes, or about half the time of the ordinary lock. Application was then made 
to the legislature for an act for the improvement of the river Delaware upon this 
plan, but the commonwealth decided upon the construction of a canal along that 
river, provided the estimate of the expense of its construction should not exceed 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 391 

a limited amount per mile. This, of course, put an end to all thoughts of con- 
tinuing the steamboat plan upon the Lehigh. Had this plan been adopted, there 
can be no doubt the transportation of coal upon it could have been effected at an 
expense not exceeding four mills per ton per mile, and the same steamboat could 
proceed (when the Delaware and Raritan Canals were done) to New York, Albany, 
Providence, &c. &c, without transshipment. 

The large quantity of coal which had been brought to market and sold in the 
previous year produced a profit which brought the semi-annual dividend fully up 
to three per cent, on the 1st of January, 1S26, and placed all the stock of the com- 
pany upon an equality from that time forward. In the previous years the dividend 
account stood as follows : January 1, 1822, the first dividend made, was confined 
to the preferred subscribers, who then received three per cent, on their subscrip- 
tion of fifty thousand dollars, and the same dividend regularly afterward. July, 
1822, gave the original subscribers one per cent., and from that time they regu- 
larly received three per cent., except in July, 1824, when the dividend to them 
was omitted. On the stock allotted to J. White and E. Hazard a dividend of one 
per cent, was made January, 1824, and two and a half per cent. January, 1825. 
These were the only dividends in which they participated, previous to the one 
which equalized the stock. 

In 1826 there were thirty-one thousand two hundred and eighty tons of coal sent 
down the Lehigh. The business was now becoming so large that it was difficult 
to keep the turnpike to the mines in good working order without coating it with 
stone, and it was determined that the best economy would be to convert it into a 
railroad. The only railroad then in the United States was the Quincy Railroad, 
about three miles in length, made in the fall of 1826. There had previously been 
a short wooden railroad, not plated with iron, at Leiper's stone-quarry, of about 
three-quarters of a mile in length, but this was worn out, and not in use. The 
railroad from Mauch Chunk to the Summit mines was commenced in January, and 
completely in operation in May, 1827. It is nine miles in length, and has a descent 
all the way from the Summit mines to the river. The road is continued beyond 
the summit about three-fourths of a mile, and descends into the mines west of 
the summit about sixty feet. With this exception, the whole transportation of the 
coal upon it is done by gravity, the empty wagons being returned to the mines by 
mules, which ride down with the coal. This, also, was an arrangement made at 
the suggestion of Josiah White, entirely novel in its character ; and enabled the 
mules to make two and a half trips to the summit and back, thus travelling about 
forty miles each day. Numerous branch railroads are now constructed into the 
different parts of the mines. 

In February, 1827, the balance of the stock, amounting to five hundred thousand 
dollars, was subscribed for ; and, it having been decided that the Delaware divi- 
sion of the Pennsylvania Canal would be made, it was determined to go on with a 
canal and slackwater navigation upon the Lehigh, from Mauch Chunk to Easton. 
Mr. Canvass White, whose character as a canal engineer stood as high as any in the 
country, was invited to take charge of the work. He recommended a canal to be 
constructed of the then ordinary size, to accommodate boats of twenty-five tons. 
But the acting managers argued that the same hands could manage a much larger 
boat, and the only additional expense for a boat of one hundred to one hundred 
and fifty tons whould be for a larger boat, and for an additional horse or two to 
tow it. The whole lading being coal, which could always be furnished in any 
quantity, there need be no detention for a cargo for the larger boat, and the expense 



392 LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 

per ton would be very much, lessened. It was at last concluded that the engineer 
should make two estimates, the one for the canal to be forty feet wide, and the 
other for a canal of sixty feet wide, each with corresponding locks. The difference 
in the estimates for the two canals in that location was so small (about 30,000) 
that the largest size was unanimously adopted. The wisdom of this decision has 
been most clearly demonstrated, and other canal companies in the United States 
have since followed the example. The dimensions of the navigation were fixed at 
sixty feet wide on the surface, and Jive feet deep ; and the locks one hundred feet long, 
and tiventy -two feet tuide, adapted to boats of one hundred and twenty tons. The work 
was at once laid out and let to contractors, who commenced their operations about 
midsummer. 

The canal commissioners met soon after at Bristol, for the purpose of deciding 
upon letting the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal. They were applied 
to to construct it so as to correspond with the work going on upon the Lehigh ; it 
was, however, insisted that the experience of Europe had proved that a twenty- 
five ton boat was the size most cheaply managed ; and that even upon the New 
York Canal, which would admit of boats of forty tons, it rarely happened that the 
packets carried more than twenty-five tons. The commissioners at length con- 
cluded to make the locks of half the width and of the same length as those on the 
Lehigh, so that two of the Delaware boats could pass at once through the Lehigh 
locks, and thus save half the time in lockage. Had not the " experience of Europe" 
thus thwarted a noble work, sloops and schooners would, perhaps, at this day, 
have taken in their cargoes at White Haven, seventy-one miles up the Lehigh, and 
have delivered them, without transshipment, at any of our Atlantic ports. 

The Lehigh slackwater navigation, from Mauch Chunk to Easton, was opened for 
use at the close of June, 1829, while the Delaware division was not regularly navi- 
gable until nearly three years afterwards, although it was commenced but about 
four months after the Lehigh. The contractors upon the Delaware division were 
suffered to use improper materials, and, when finished by them, the canal would 
not hold water. It was at length left to the care of Mr. Josiah White to make it 
a good and permanently useful navigation. 

The want of the Delaware division, after the Lehigh was completed, caused the 
failure of eight dividends to the Lehigh Company, as they were obliged to continue 
the use of the temporary boats, which were very expensively moved on the Lehigh 
navigation, but were the only kind that could be used upon the channels of the 
Delaware River, which were still necessarily used to get to market. This not only 
prevented the increase of the Company's coal business on the Lehigh, but also 
turned the attention of persons desirous of entering into the coal business to the 
Schuylkill coal region, which caused Pottsville to spring up with great rapidity, 
and furnish numerous dealers to spread the Schuylkill coal through the market, 
while the Company was the only dealer in Lehigh coal. In this manner the 
Schuylkill coal trade got in advance of that of the Lehigh. 

The capital of the Company being limited by the act of incorporation to one 
million of dollars, which amount had been expended in the operations of the Com- 
pany prior to the completion of the slackwater navigation, it became necessary, in 
1828, to consider the means to raise the necessary funds to carry on the work. By 
this time a total change had taken place in the views of the community respecting 
the undertaking of the Lehigh Company. The improvement of the Lehigh had 
been demonstrated to be perfectly practicable, and the extensive coal field owned 
by them was no longer considered to be of problematical value. The legislature 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION" COMPANY. 393 

of 1818 was now censured for having granted such valuable privileges, and all the 
" craziness" of the original enterprise was lost sight of. Hence applications to the 
legislature for a change in their charter were thwarted by the influence of adverse 
interests. With such opposition, it was in vain to apply to the legislature for an 
increase of capital, as it was evident that such a change could not be effected with- 
out a sacrifice of some of the valuable privileges secured by the charter of the 
Company. Resort was therefore necessarily had to loans, to enable the Company 
to complete the work required of them by law, and these were readily procured, 
in consequence of the good faith always evinced in the business of the Company, 
and their evidently prosperous circumstances. The first loan was taken in 182S. 

The claim upon the Company arising from their assumption of the agreement of 
J. White and E. Hazard with G. F. A . Hauto for the purchase of his interest, before 
mentioned, was finally settled in 1830, by the purchase by the Company of the 
remaining shares of the stock into which Hauto had converted his claim. 

Upon the completion of the Delaware division of the Pennsylvania Canal, the 
operations of the coal business were very much simplified by the change from 
temporary to permanent boats, and the consequent discharge of the host of hands 
required in chopping, hauling, sawing, rafting, piling, and otherwise preparing the 
large amount of lumber necessary for building, on the average of some years, 
eleven to thirteen miles in length of boats sixteen to eighteen feet wide. 

In 1831 the Company constructed a railroad, about five miles long, from the 
landing to the mines which had been opened along Room Run, which, like the 
one from the Summit mines, operates by gravity, but has a more gradual descent 
towards the river. 

As the time at which the original act granted to White, Hauto, and Hazard 
required the navigation to be completed to Stoddartsville was now approaching, 
and the attention of the public was awakened to the second, or Beaver Meadow 
coal region, it became necessary to look to the commencement of that part of the 
Company's work. It was evident that the descending navigation by artificial 
freshets would not be satisfactory to the legislature, who had reserved the right 
of compelling the construction of a complete slackwater navigation. The extra- 
ordinary fall in the upper section of the Lehigh rendered its improvement by locks 
of the ordinary lift impracticable, as the locks would have been so close together, 
and would have caused so much detention in their use, as to render the navigation 
too expensive to be available to the public. The plan of high lifts was proposed 
by the managers as one that would overcome this difficulty, and, in 1835, Edwin 
A. Douglas, Esq., was appointed as engineer to carry it into execution. The work, 
as high as the mouth of the Quakake, was put under contract in June, 1835, and 
from thence to White Haven in October of the same year. The descending navi- 
gation above Wright's Creek was also put under contract in the same year. 

On the 13th of March, 1837, the legislature passed an act authorizing the Lehigh 
Coal and Navigation Company to construct a railroad to connect the North Branch 
division of the Pennsylvania Canal with the slackwater navigation of the Lehigh, 
and increasing their capital stock to one million six hundred thousand dollars ; at 
the same time repealing so much of the former act as required or provided for the 
completion of a slackwater navigation between Wright's Creek (near White Haven) 
and Stoddartsville. This act was accepted by the stockholders of the Company 
on the 10th of May, 1837. 

The whole work of the navigation required by the acts of the legislature was 

27 



394 



LEHIGH COAL AND NAVIGATION COMPANY. 



completed, and the Governor's commission given to the inspectors to examine the 
last of it, on the 19th of March, 1838. 

A history of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, from its earliest infancy 
down to the completion of the canal and slackwater navigation, has thus been 
furnished. To give a description in detail of all the improvements since that 
period would require a large volume. We have heard this company, not inaptly, 
termed the East India Company of the United States. It owns, beyond doubt, a 
very valuable property, and owes much of its credit and good condition to the 
economical and skilful conduct of its managers. To examine its present condition, 
and see its immense property in coal and other lands, its navigation and railroads 
penetrating the vast regions of timber, and coal, and iron ore, and limestone, with 
abundant power for manufacturing them, there can be no doubt of such an insti- 
tution affording perfect security for the regular payment of all the loanholders, 
and amply reimbursing the stockholders for their investments. As investment 
securities for the support of families, trust funds, etc., the loans of this company 
are equal, if not superior, to any other in the market, as much from the fact of the 
confidence of the public in the discretion and integrity of the President, officers, 
and managers, as the fact that the interest periods on them are quarterly — both 
important considerations. 

The officers of the Company are : — 



President .... 
Acting Manager 
Secretary and Treasurer 
Superintendent and Engineer 
Assistant Engineer 



James Cox. 
James S. Cox. 
Edwin Walter. 
E. A. Douglass. 
Daniel Bertsch, Jr. 



The following table will show the quantity of coal sent to market over the 
Lehigh Canal since the commencement of the coal trade in 1820 : — 



1820 


365 


tons. 


1821 


1,073 


a 


1822 


2,240 


a 


1823 


5,823 


a 


1824 


9,541 


a 


1825 


28,393 


it 


1826 


31,280 


u 


1827 


32,074 


a 


1828 


30,232 


a 


1829 


25,110 


u 


1830 


41,750 


a 


1831 


40,960 


a 


1832 


70,000 


a 


1833 


123,000 


a 


1834 


106,244 


it 


1835 


131,250 


a 


1836 


148,211 


(i 


1837 


' 223,902 


a 


1838 


213,615 


a 


1839 


221,025 


it 



1840 
1841 
1842 
1843 
1844 
1845 
1846 
1847 
1848 
1849 
1850 
1851 
1852 
1853 
1854 
1855 
1856 
1857 
1858 
1859 



225,318 tons. 

143,037 " 

272,546 " 

267,793 " 

377,002 " 

429,453 " 

517,116 « 

633,507 " 

670,321 " 

781,656 « 

690,456 " 

964,224 " 

1,072,136 " 

1,054,309 " 

1,207,186 " 

1,275,050 " 

1,186,230 « 

900,314 « 

908,800 " 

1,050,659 " 








°%i 




tf-U^*£ 



Sup!;. & Eng. Lehigh Valley Rail Road 



-^ 



^ 



¥> 



.$> 



#■ 




LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. 395 



LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. 

This great and important railroad was originally incorporated under the name 
of the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad Company, by the 
act of Assembly passed 21st April, 1846. The bill was got up at the suggestion of 
Edward R. Biddle, Esq., principally through the agency of Hon. Henry King, 
Christian Pretz, Esq., and other enterprising citizens of Lehigh County, and by 
James M. Porter, Peter S. Michler, Abraham Miller, and a few other citizens of 
Northampton County. The bill was carried through the legislature by the inde- 
fatigable exertions of Dr. Jesse Samuel, who then represented Lehigh County in 
the House of Representatives, and against a very strong opposition. It was, how- 
ever, one thing to pass a bill, and another to get the stock subscribed to an amount 
sufficient to obtain the charter. 

The commissioners named in the act of incorporation advertised for subscriptions 
of stock on the 2d of June, 1846, and adjourned the opening of the books from day 
to day and from time to time for at least twenty times, and it was not until the 
2d of August, 1847, that a sufficient amount of stock could be secured. On that 
day they had 5002 shares of stock subscribed, and $5 on each share of stock, 
amounting to $25,010 paid in. 

The names of the original subscribers of stock were : Solomon Fogel, James M. 
Porter, Edward R. Biddle, John A. Willink, John N. Hutchinson, Horace Gray, 
Dudley S. Gregory, Archibald Robertson, Daniel Mclntyre, John P. Jackson, John 
S. Darcey, Robert L. Schuyler, John Acken, Wm. Samuel Johnston, Asa White- 
head, William Wright, and Elisha Townsend. 

On the 2d of August, 1847, the following named commissioners, named in the 
act, signed the necessary certificate to the Governor for the purpose of obtaining 
the charter of incorporation : — 

William Edelman, Casper Kleckner, George Probst, Stephen Balliet, John D. 
Bauman, Thos. Craig, James M. Porter, Peter S. Michler, Abraham Miller, Henry 
King, Benjamin Ludwig, Christian Pretz, and Peter Huber. 

Some difficulty occurred with the Governor and Secretary of State in procuring 
the charter, after all this was done. The $100 tax for the act of incorporation had 
not been paid until after the advertisements for the subscription of stock had 
issued. However, after some trouble, on the 20th day of September, 1847, the 
letters patent were issued by the Governor, and after due notice an election for 
officers by the stockholders was held, at the office of J. M. Porter at Easton, on the 
21st day of October, 1847, when the following officers were elected : President, 
James M. Porter ; Managers, Dudley S. Gregory, John S. Dorsey, John P. Jackson, 
Daniel Mclntyre, Edward R. Biddle, and John N. Hutchinson ; Secretary, John N. 
Hutchinson. 

These officers continued in office for the years 1847, 1848, 1849, and 1850. In 
the months of October, November, and December, 1850, the first survey of the road 
was made from the mouth of the Mahoning Creek to Easton by Roswell B. Mason, 
Esq., civil engineer. 

On the 3d of March, 1851, the canal commissioners appointed Jacob Dillinger 
and Jesse Samuel, Esqrs., engineers, to examine, under the eleventh section of the 
act of incorporation, whether a railroad constructed upon the route, would or 
would not injure the canal of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, or the 
works necessarily appertaining thereto, or obstruct the works of that company. 



396 LEHIGH VALLEY EAILROAD. 

Those gentlemen performed that duty, and on the 10th day of March, 1851, reported 
that it would not.* On the same day the Board of Managers authorized Mr. Hut- 
chinson, who in the meantime had become treasurer as well as secretary of the 
Company, to commence the construction of the railroad by grading on the six- 
teenth mile from the river Delaware at Easton, which is a short distance below 
Allentown, Mr. Dillinger being appointed the superintendent, and Dr. Samuel the 
engineer. The work was commenced and continued during that spring and sum- 
mer until about a mile was graded. The following landholders on that part of 
the route released all claim for damages for a nominal consideration. Their re- 
lease is dated March 1st, 1851, and is signed by the following persons : Henry 
King, Stephen Rhoads, Peter Newhard, Adam Hecker, John Yost, John Moore, 
Abraham Newhard, and George R. Boyd. 

This release was procured by Jno. N. Hutchinson, Esq., mainly through the 
instrumentality of the Hon. Henry King. 

A meeting of the stockholders was held on the 4th of April, 1851, when the fore- 
going proceedings were reported to and approved of by them. On the same day 
an election for officers was held, when James M. Porter was elected president ; 
John N. Hutchinson, secretary and treasurer ; and Christian Pretz, Asa Packer, 
Dudley S. Gregory, Benjamin Williamson, John N. Hutchinson, and Edward R. 
Biddle, managers. 

On the 7th of October, 1851, the President reported that the expenditures in 
constructing the railroad up to the 7th, of July last, when he received the last 
return in detail from Judge Dillinger, the superintendent, amounted to $444 j^, 
and that the work was still in progress, the expenditures on which now amount 
to $750. Mr. Hutchinson having made two payments of $500 each on account of 
his subscription to stock from which the disbursements had been made. 

On the 31st of October, 1851, Asa Packer became the purchaser of a large amount 
of the stock which had been subscribed, and commenced efforts to get additional 
stock subscribed, and the road constructed. On the 13th of September, 1852, 
Robert H. Sayre was appointed chief engineer for the construction of the road, and 
on the 27th of November, 1852, Judge Packer submitted a proposition for con- 
structing the railroad from opposite Mauch Chunk, where it would intersect the 
Beaver Meadow Railroad, to the river Delaware at Easton, where it would intersect 
the New Jersey Central Railroad, and the Belvidere Delaware Railroad for a 
consideration, to be paid in the stock and bonds of the Company, which was 
accepted by the stockholders, at a meeting in which all the stockholders, repre- 
senting 5150 shares of stock were present. 

On the 7th of January, 1853, the name of the Company was changed by act of 
Assembly to that of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and on the 10th of that 
month James M. Porter was re-elected president, John N. Hutchinson, secretary 
and treasurer, and John N. Hutchinson, William Hackett, William H. Gatzmer, 
Henry King, John T. Johnston, and John O. Sterns, managers. 

Although the formal contract with Judge Packer for the construction of the road 
was not signed until the 12th of February, 1853, yet he began the work imme- 
diately after the acceptance of this offer, on the 27th of November, 1852, by com- 
mencing the deep rock cut at Easton. The work was prosecuted with vigor by 



* This was done that the work upon the railroad might be commenced before 
the 21st day of April, 1851, when the time limited by the charter for the com- 
mencement of the road would have expired. 



LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. 897 

Judge Packer himself, at some of the hardest cuts, and by sub-contractors at other 
places, until its completion. The gentlemen concerned in the New Jersey Central 
Railroad, who were represented by its president, John T. Johnston, Esq., and the 
gentlemen in the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, who were represented by Mr. 
Gatzmer, cashed a considerable portion of the bonds and stock for the enterprising 
contractor, Judge Packer, but in the fall of 1854 the sale of the stock and bonds 
had become so dull and the money market so tight, and the price of provision and 
labor became so enhanced, that the work must have come to a stand-still, but for 
the noble conduct of Commodore Stockton in coming to its rescue, and advancing 
sufficient money to enable the contractor to get through. 

The work then progressed, and on the 24th of September, 1855, the contractor, 
Judge Packer, delivered the road to the Company, and it was accepted. Judge 
Packer, in the construction of the road, encountered great difficulties and embar- 
rassments, from the rise in the price of provisions and necessaries for the hands — 
the sickliness of some of the seasons, the failures of sub-contractors, and the neces- 
sary reletting the work at advanced prices, and the difficulty in raising money 
upon, and disposing of the bonds of the Company, from the stringency of the 
money market ; but, with an energy and perseverance seldom met with, he worked 
through it all. 

In the beginning of the year 1856, the persons representing the largest amount 
of the stock came to the determination that it was necessary to remove the office 
of the Company to Philadelphia. Judge Porter, the President, declined a re-elec- 
tion, as his business would not permit his removal to that city, and on the 5th day 
of February, 1856, William M. Longstreth was elected President. William H. 
Gatzmer, AsaPacker, John T. Johnston, Elisha A. Packer, J. Gillingham Fell, and 
David Bennet, Managers, and John N. Hutchinson, Secretary and Treasurer. On 
the same day the stockholders passed the following resolutions : — 

Resolved, That the stockholders of this Company, on accepting the declination of 
the Hon. James M. Porter, President of the Company, to be a candidate for re-elec- 
tion, we cannot withhold this testimony of their estimation of his worth as a man, 
and as an officer of this Company, and the care and attention he has uniformly 
bestowed upon its business and affairs, during its whole existence as a corpo- 
ration. 

Resolved, That having full confidence in his integrity and ability, and his high 
legal attainments, we recommend to the President and Managers to be elected this 
day to secure his services, if possible, as the legal adviser of the Company. 

The office was then removed to Philadelphia, where its business has since been 
transacted. Mr. Longstreth did not continue long in the Presidency ; he resigned 
on the 13th of May, 1856, and J. Gillingham Fell was elected in his place, and has 
continued to fill the office until this time, with great credit to himself, and benefit 
to the Company. Commodore Stockton was elected to fill his place in the Board 
of Managers. 

The road has become an avenue of great importance to the public, connecting as 
it does the coal region of the Lehigh with Philadelphia, by the North Pennsylva- 
nia Railroad, and the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, and with New York, by the 
New Jersey Central Railroad, and the Williamsport and Elniira Railroad with the 
same railroads by the branch of the Catawissa road, extending up Quakake Creek ; 
thus opening a communication to the great West. 

Although the road carries a great many passengers, the stockholders depend 
mainly upon the transportation of coal as the source of a profitable remuneration 
of their investment. 



Tons. 


Cwt. 


5,857 


00 


168,349 


00 


418,235 


03 


471,029 


10 


577,651 


10 


1,641,122 


03 



398 LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. 

In the year 1858, the second year after its construction, there were transported 
over it upwards of 460,000 tons of coal, and it is now paying the stockholders six 
per cent, on the capital stock, besides paying the interest upon its bonds, and pru- 
dently reserving a surplus for contingencies, and keeping up the road in stock. 

No railroad company gives fairer promise of being remunerative, and it has fully 
justified the expectations of its early friends. To Judge Porter, Judge Packer, and 
Robert H. Sayre, Esq., its engineer, who is now also the superintendent of the road, 
the stockholders and public are indebted for their perseverance and personal atten- 
tion given to the road throughout its progress. To John N. Hutchinson, Esq., as 
Secretary and Treasurer, for his attention to the books and finances of the Com- 
pany, they are equally indebted. Every transaction is fairly recorded, and the 
accounts of the Company are a pattern for all others. 

The following is the account of the coal transported upon this road, since its 
completion, in 1855. 

Oct. and Nov. 1855 .... 
Dec. 1st, 1855, to Dec. 1st, 1856 

" 1856 " " 1857 

" 1857 " " 1858 

" 1858 " " 1859 

.Tons 

The annexed letter, from a correspondent of the New York Tribune, shows the 
many advantages possessed by the road. 

" The maiwel of the day, in this region, is the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Unlike 
most enterprises of the kind, which generally look for support from traffic to be 
created by the construction of the road, the projectors of this seized upon a route 
where an overwhelming trade had existed for years, and which only waited for the 
new channel to be constructed, that it might pour down upon it an inexhaustible 
supply of products from the field, the forge, the furnace, and the mine. Tbis road 
begins at Easton, the outlet of the river Lehigh. When the line of road com- 
menced on the Delaware, all access to the latter was shut out by an enormous 
limestone bluff, which rose something like a hundred feet above the water line. 
Through this huge obstruction, the roadway was blasted some hundred feet, at a 
great expense. The great blocks of stone thrown out in the excavation, were used 
in building the massive piers and abutments of the noble bridge across the Dela- 
ware, on which two tracks are laid, one above the other, connecting the Valley 
Road with the New Jersey Central and the Belvidere Delaware Roads. The tracks 
are thus built one above the other, because the grade of one road is some fifteen 
feet higher than the other. It is probably the only similar bridge in America, and 
its colossal proportions strike with astonishment the mind of every traveller who 
views it, in passing either up or down on the Belvidere Road. It is the outlet over 
which the products of the Lehigh region find their way to New York, and other 
Eastern markets, by two great thoroughfares, and twenty years hence must pass 
an almost fabulous amount of coal. 

" After leaving this rocky ohasm, at South Easton, it follows the valley of the 
Lehigh, forty-six miles, to Mauch Chunk. The whole route abounds in wild and 
striking scenery, not so terrific as that on the Erie Road, but equally picturesque 
and captivating. The mountains have been blasted away in many places where 
they touched the river, to make room for the track. At various points, as you 



LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. 899 

travel upward, you notice other roads connecting with this, all running up into 
the coal mines, and some of them interlocking with other roads still further in the 
interior. At its northwestern terminus, it connects with the Beaver Meadow Road, 
some twenty-five miles long to Jeansville, and about midway with Quakake Road, a 
branch thirteen miles long, which unites with the Catawissa Road, above Tamaqua. 
Some fifteen miles above Mauch Chunk, the Beaver Meadow counects with the 
Hazleton Road, which extends to Cranberry Colliery, twelve miles above Hazleton. 
About seven miles north of this junction, the Lehigh and Luzerne Road unites with 
the Hazleton, having come down eight miles from the Big Black Creek coal basin. 
Other ramifications of the network of railroads now established in the coal region, 
might be mentioned, all of which are tributary to the Lehigh Valley Road. These 
pour an immense tonnage over the latter, all which formerly passed down the Le- 
high Canal. These feeders are increasing in number annually. The Valley Road 
has not been three years in operation, yet in 1858 it brought over its beautifully 
descending grade nearly half a million of tons of coal, beside a vast amount of iron 
and other heavy freight peculiar to that region. It had no struggle to create the 
business it is now doing, all of it being ready made, and clamoring to be accom- 
modated. Its profits have enabled it to make a first dividend a few weeks since. 

" At the village of Catasauqua, twenty-six miles below Mauch Chunk, another road 
ten miles long comes in from Fogelsville, and furnishes a large tonnage of iron 
from numerous furnaces all now in blast in Lehigh County. Just below Allen- 
town, two other connections with the Valley Road will soon be made. One of 
these will connect Allentown with the Dauphin and Susquehanna Road at Auburn, 
on the Reading Road, and the other the East Pennsylvania, from Allentown to 
Reading. These will be new and bountiful feeders to the Lehigh Valley. They 
traverse a country which contains untold amounts of iron ore, of which great 
amounts will be carried to the blast furnaces on the line of the Valley Road. When 
these roads are completed, the valleys of the Schuylkill and Lehigh will be con- 
nected together. But to do this, the Blue Mountain must be pierced by a tunnel 
2,000 feet in length, a slow and expensive undertaking. One of these routes, the 
East Pennsylvania, opens a direct communication between New York and the West, 
without going through Philadelphia. By this route, from New York to Harrisburg 
is only 175 miles, or twenty-one miles nearer than by Philadelphia, 424 to Pitts- 
burg, and 895 to Chicago. 

"At the old Moravian town of Bethlehem, the Lehigh Valley Road connects with 
the North Pennsylvania, and at Easton with the Belvidere, the New Jersey Cen- 
tral, the Delaware and Lackawanna Roads, and with the Morris Canal and the 
Delaware Division Canal. It would be difficult to name another railroad so abun- 
dantly supplied with important feeders and outlets as this. What these feeders 
and outlets do for it, is shown in the following table of its tonnage during the two 
years it has been in operation. 

1S57. 1S58. 

North Pennsylvania Railroad .... 43,239 66,000 
New Jersey Central Railroad 
Belvidere Delaware Railroad 
On line Lehigh Valley Railroad . 



Total tonnage 



82,102 126,000 
121,648 100,000 



171,246 179,000 



418,235 471,000 



" Here is an increase of nearly 15 per cent, in the face of a reduction on many 
old-established thoroughfares. Its traffic the present year will probably reach 



400 BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY. 

600,000 tons. It lias never yet had sufficient rolling stock, though running six 
hundred coal cars and nineteen engines. Long trains of cars, containing ten tons 
each, pass directly from the mines over a descending grade to Trenton, where they 
ascend a long and elevated trestle-work, and discharge their contents into schoon- 
ers carrying two hundred and fifty tons, moored in the Delaware and Raritan Canal. 
Such a vessel receives her cargo in an hour, and saves many days of demurrage 
by this admirable arrangement. The road is said to have carried more freight per 
mile during the past year than any other in this country, or in the world." 



BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY. 

The Beaver Meadow Railroad and Coal Company was incorporated April 7th, 
1830. At this time the Hon. S. D. Ingham was President, and John Ecky Secre- 
tary. With the early history of this enterprise the writer of this was but little 
acquainted, but has been informed that Canvass White, father of C. S. White, was 
first employed as chief engineer of the road, under whom A. Pardee, Esq., the pre- 
sent large coal landholder and operator, was engaged as an assistant. Mr. White's 
connection with the Company was of short duration, and he was succeeded by a 
Mr. Hopkins, who remained with the Company in the capacity of chief engineer 
for about one year, when he gave way to Mr. Pardee, who had previously been 
engaged in making surveys and locating the road, and under whom it was finally 
located, graded, and completed. The writer has been told that at one time, while 
the road was being graded, a difficulty grew up between this Company and the 
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, about the location of the road, and that Mr. 
Ingham, the President of the Beaver Meadow Company, and Mr. Josiah White, the 
President of the Lehigh Company, went so far as to arm their men with muskets, 
and that at one time it was feared that they would have a regular battle. The 
matter was, however, peaceably arranged. The location and grade of the road 
changed at a cost, to the Beaver Meadow Company, of many thousand dollars. 
The road was finally opened for the transportation of coal in the autumn of 1836, 
when two locomotives, the " S. D. Ingham" and " Elias Ely," were put on the road, 
which at that time extended from the mines of the Beaver Meadow Railroad and 
Coal Company to Parryville, a distance of twenty-five miles. In April 1837, an- 
other locomotive engine was added, namely, the " Quakake," and in August of the 
same year an additional one called the " Beaver." 

The shops of the Company for repairing locomotives, cars, mine machinery, &c. 
&c, were originally located at Beaver Meadow (a very handsomely located town 
along the Lehigh and Susquehanna Turnpike, about one mile and a half from the 
Beaver Meadow mines, and four miles from the present town of Hazleton. The 
elevation of this town, Beaver Meadow, above tide-water is sixteen hundred feet, 
as ascertained by actual measurement), but, owing to reasons which were deemed 
of sufficient importance to justify their removal, they were, some time in the sum- 
mer of 1839, removed to Weatherly, a distance of some five miles down the road, 
where they have since continued. 

The disastrous flood of January, 1841, carried away all the bridges on this road 
from Weatherly to Parryville, when it was decided by the Company to temporarily 
abandon that part of their road from Mauch Chunk to Parryville, and to erect suit- 
able facilities at Mauch Chunk for the shipment of coal. It may be added, that 
what was then considered suitable facilities for the shipping of coal in good order, 



BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY. 401 

would not now be considered good enough to clean coal for the use of a locomotive, 
or a blacksmith shop fire ; all the bridges on the Quakake Creek, five or six in 
number, had to be rebuilt, and a very important one across the Lehigh River, at 
the Turnhole, together with a quantity of trestling at Mauch Chunk (or rather at 
Lousy Bay, on the opposite side of the Lehigh from Mauch Chunk, as it was then 
called), for the shipping accommodations. Mr. A. H. Nancleave, who was then 
Superintendent for the Company, with an energy which will ever be remembered 
by those who witnessed it, proceeded to rebuild what the flood had destroyed. 
Giving his attention particularly to the rebuilding of the Turnhole bridge. This 
bridge was designed by F. C. Louthorp, and was a single span of 200 feet, arch 
and truss. The abutment on the north side of this bridge is unexampled as a 
piece of substantial masonry anywhere in this region, and the superstructure, after 
a trial of 18 years, yet stands to attest its superior workmanship and material of 
which it was constructed. 

Some time in the month of August, 1841, the shipment of coal was resumed 
over this road. About this time, or before, Mr. Ingham was succeeded in the Pre- 
sidency by a Mr. Budd ; Mr. Pearsoll followed Mr. Budd, and in turn was followed 
by Mr. Dulless, and he by Mr. Rowland, and finally, in 1849, W. W. Lorjgstreth, 
Esq., the present efficient presiding officer was instituted ; upon his accession to 
the Presidency, it was directly determined to relay the road (which had previously 
been a light wooden rail with flat bar iron), with heavy T iron. This wise deter- 
mination was promptly carried out during the winter of 1849 and spring of 1850, 
and completed in May or June of that year. In September of this year occurred 
another remarkable flood, carrying away all the bridges on the Black Creek and 
Quakake, destroying the car shops, &c. &c, at Weatherly, and sweeping away 
nearly one-half of the superstructure, and a large portion of the permanent way 
of the road between Weatherly and Penn Haven, which was at that time a double 
track, one wood and one iron. The repairs consequent upon this disastrous freshet 
were not completed in time to resume shipments by canal in 1850, but the road 
was ready to commence with the opening of the navigation in the spring of 1851. 
The great loss sustained by the Company by the freshet spoken of in the carrying 
away of so many bridges, and so much of the road bed, together with the loss of 
almost the entire shipping season, was like a wet blanket thrown around the stock- 
holders of the Company, and, but for the confidence reposed in their first officer, it 
is doubtful whether the stockholders could again have been induced to furnish the 
necessary amount to repair the very heavy damages thus sustained. 

From this time until the present day, no serious interruption to the trade has 
occurred. In 1854, it was decided to avoid the two inclined planes with which the 
road had formerly been worked. Accordingly, a piece of road, extending from 
Weatherly in the direction of Hazleton, one mile and three-quarters in length, was 
purchased of the Hazleton Coal Company, and the continuation of this piece of 
road to its point of junction with the Beaver Meadow road, was graded in 1854 and 
1855, the track was laid early in the latter year, and on the 14th of August the 
planes were finally abandoned. The grade above Weatherly is 145 feet per mile 
for a distance of one mile and three-quarters, and 135 feet per mile for a distance 
of some 4000 feet further. In the meantime, the road along the Lehigh, from 
Mauch Chunk to Penn Haven, a second track had been graded and laid at a very 
heavy cost to the Company, and some time in the month of July or August, 1857, 
the old Turnhole bridge, before spoken of, was abandoned, to avoid two very heavy 
curves (the hardest ones on the road), and a new iron double-track bridge, with a 



402 BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY. 

very heavy rock cut, at the north end of the bridge, was completed. This large 
iron structure, on the Whipple plan, has two spans of 140 feet each, and was erected 
by John W. Murphy, Esq., of Philadelphia. 

The business of the road has been gradually increasing year after year, so that 
from being the means of getting a small quantity of coal to market for the Beaver 
Meadow Company in 1837, it has become the outlet for numerous operations, 
amounting in the aggregate to not less than 700,000 tons of coal in 1859. 

How the stock of this company is appreciated any one can see by referring to a 
Philadelphia price current, when it will be found to stand higher than any other 
security of a like kind in the State of Pennsylvania. 

In connection with the statement that " S. D. Ingham was President, and John 
Ecky Secretary," it should have been added that Capt. George Jenkins was Super- 
intendent of Transportation, and Col. William Lilly Shipping Clerk ; Morris Hall, 
Treasurer; James D. Gallop (well known on the upper Lehigh), Road Master. 

Hopkin Thomas, now boss machinist at Catasauqua, was master mechanic. It 
is the impression of the writer that the locomotive "Beaver" was one of the first 
four-wheeled connected engines built in the State. In the years 1838 and 1839, 
Hopkin Thomas built, at the shops of the Company at Beaver Meadows, a six- 
wheeled connected engine, the first of the kind constructed in the country. This 
locomotive, the "Nonpareil," was supposed at the time to be what her name 
implied, and those now living along the line of this road, who can look back at 
her as she appeared twenty years ago, and then at some of the locomotives now in 
use, can well note the contrast. 

Following the notice of Mr. W. W. Longstreth's connection with the Beaver 
Meadow Company, as President, we should have mentioned that A. G. Brodhead, 
Jr., was soon after appointed Superintendent, the duties of which position he has 
continued to discharge for nearly ten years, with credit to himself and entire 
satisfaction to the Company. 

On the 25th of August, 1858, the Quakake Railroad, connecting the Beaver 
Meadow with the Catawissa, Williamsport, and Erie Railroad, was completed. 
This road is thirteen miles in length, passing through a very beautiful valley, and 
is stocked and run by the Catawissa, Williamsport, and Erie Railroad Company. 
The business of this road has been gradually increasing, and when the coal basin 
near the western terminus, called the Taumau End, shall be opened, it will largely 
increase the business of this road, and be a very considerable auxiliary to the 
Beaver Meadow and Lehigh Valley roads. This road connects with the Beaver 
Meadow one mile and a quarter below the town of Weatherly, and with the Cata- 
wissa three miles south of the Summit Station on that road. 

At the point where this road connects with the Catawissa a road has been 
located, and considerable work done on it, leading into the great Mahanoy coal- 
field, which coal can be reached by four or five miles of road, not very expensive 
to make, which, if pushed forward and completed, would open up this va^t coal- 
field several years sooner than it can be by a projected road from Tamaqua to this 
basin. 

The work on the road leading from the junction of the Quakake with the Cata- 
wissa into the Mahanoy has been abandoned for the present, but it is believed it 
will be resumed in the spring of 1860, and pushed forward to completion. This 
would throw a large trade over the Beaver Meadow, Lehigh Valley, the New Jersey 
Central, North Pennsylvania, and Belvidere Delaware railroads, and bring this 
coal into the New York market at lower rates than coal from many points in the 
Schuylkill region can be furnished. 



BEAVER MEADOW RAILROAD AND COAL COMPANY. 



403 



The following table will show the amount of ooal carried over the road since its 
completion : — 



1837 


33,617 tons. 1849 


324,048 tons 


1838 


54,647 ' 


' 1850 (flood) . 


355,403 " 


1839 


79,971 ' 


< 1851 


383,748 " 


1840 


123,325 ' 


< 1852 


243,112 " 


1841 (flood) 


64,641 ' 


' 1853 


278,939 " 


1842 


108,171 ' 


< 1854 


367,093 " 


1843 


125,456 ' 


< 1855 


438,092 " 


1844 


143,363 ' 


' 1856 


552,111 " 


1845 


149,000 ' 


1857 


618,793 " 


1846 


194,3S0 ' 


' 1858 


628,227 " 


1847 


247,500 ' 


1859 


7^6,313 " 


1848 


266,188 ' 







APPENDIX. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES* 



HON. SAMUEL SITGREAYES. 

Samuel Sitgreaves, a lawyer and statesman of fine talents and education, was 
born in the city of Philadelphia, March 16, 1764. His father was a merchant of 
wealth and standing, and gave his son an excellent classical education. After 
going through his collegiate studies, he spent some time in his father's counting- 
house, where he became perfectly familiar with book-keeping and accounts, to 
which may, no doubt, in part, be attributed the great accuracy and system which 
he ever afterwards preserved in the transaction of business. He studied law in 
Philadelphia, with the Hon. James Wilson, one of the signers of the Declaration 
of Independence, in company with James Ross, of Pittsburg, and James A. Bayard, 
of Delaware, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, Sept. 3, 1783, with high 
reputation for talents. Some time after his admission, in the year 1786, he re- 
moved to Easton, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, where he soon succeeded to 
a large practice at the bar, at the head of which, in that region, he continued until 
stricken down by sickness, about a year before his decease, which took place April 
4th, 1827, at Easton. 

In 1790, he was elected a member of the Convention to form a Constitution for 
Pennsylvania, having then resided in Northampton County but about four years. 
In that body, he took a leading and active part, and introduced or advocated every 
leading republican feature in that instrument. In this, he and James Ross acted 
in concert ; yet in eight years afterwards those two gentlemen were the leading 
men in the Federal party, while many of those who opposed their views in the 
Convention of 1790, were found leading men in the Democratic party. 

Mr. Sitgreaves was elected to the House of Representatives of the United States 
in October, 1794, and served as a member, having been re-elected until the year 
1798. He was one of the ablest of the able men who composed the House of Rep- 
resentatives during that period. In 1797, he was the leading manager to conduct 
the impeachment of Willie Blount, a senator from Tennessee, and discharged his 
duties with great power, talents, and fidelity. The Senate decided, however, that 
they could not take jurisdiction of the case, as a senator was not liable to trial by 
impeachment. He was subsequently appointed a commissioner to settle claims 



* We had hoped to give to our readers a brief sketch of all the leading men in 
the Lehigh Valley ; but, after repeated petitions for the necessary information, we 
have been unable to obtain them in time, and therefore are compelled (after some 
delay in our work), to omit them. 



408 APPENDIX. 

under Jay's treaty, and went to England for the purpose, where he discharged the 
duties of that appointment with great fidelity. In 1799, he was retained by 
government to assist in the trial, before the U. S. Circuit Court, of John Fries, for 
high treason, and made certainly the ablest speech of all the celebrated counsel 
engaged in that cause. 

At the end of the administration of the elder Adams, he retired from politics, 
disgusted, as he said, with the conduct of the Federalists in supporting Aaron Burr 
for President, and having few affiliations with the opposite party. He then resumed 
the practice of his profession, attending the courts of some of the adjoining coun- 
ties, and led the bar wherever he practised, until the year 1826, when he was 
taken sick, and gradually sunk until his death, as before stated, being then in the 
sixty-fourth year of his age. 

He was a man of fine and noble appearance, and of dignified manners — some- 
what aristocratic in his bearing — a good specimen of the gentleman of the old 
school ; not only of fine talents, but of the most untiring and systematic industry, 
and of commanding eloquence. He always made laborious preparation for his 
causes, and put his whole case, facts, as well as law, upon his brief, so that he was 
always ready, and rarely went into the trial of a cause unless he had time for pre- 
paration. His briefs were perfect models, both as to matter and manner, and left 
him but little labor to perform, in the mere trial of his causes. He was one of the 
most forcible speakers in the Commonwealth — generally grave and imposing in 
his manner, but occasionally pouring forth floods of wit and ridicule, when neces- 
sary to overwhelm his opponent. 

He was intimately connected with the history of Easton, and of its progress, 
from his first coming there until the time of his being stricken down with disease, 
about a year before his death. He participated largely in its improvements, among 
which may be mentioned the erection of the Easton Delaware bridge, Trinity 
Church, and the construction of the principal roads leading to and from the place. 
From 1815 to the time of his decease, he was President of the Easton Bank, and 
his ability, care, and prudence, did much to establish its character, and give it 
that public confidence which it has never ceased to retain. 

As a specimen of his powers of wit and ridicule, we insert the following award 
of arbitrators written by him in the case of a quarrel, resulting in an assault and 
battery by Judge Mulholland, an impulsive Irish Democrat, then Prothonotary of 
the Common Pleas of Lehigh County, and F. J. Haller, a hot-headed Federal law- 
yer, who had quarrelled about politics, and who had been persuaded to leave the 
case to the members of the bar, as arbitrators, for settlement. 

"We, the arbitrators, mutually appointed to settle and adjust the controversy 
between Frederick John Haller, Esq., prosecutor, and John Mulholland, Esq., pro- 
secuted, having called to our assistance, conformably to the agreement of the said 
parties, Henry Wilson, Esq., by reason of previous diversity of opinion amongst 
us. And we, the said arbitrators, together with the said Henry Wilson, Esq., hav- 
ing attentively heard the said parties and their witnesses, and deliberately con- 
sidered the allegations and the evidence, do, with unanimous consent, make this 
our award upon the whole matter. 

We are of opinion that Mr. Haller, duriter verba exposuit, and that Mr. Mulhol- 
land molliter manus imposuit ; that Mr. Haller has offended in verbise, and Mr. Mul- 
holland in verberibus, or, rather, that he is guilty de pulsatione, but not de verbera- 
tione; we think that Mr. Mulholland has sinned a little against the law, and Mr. 
Haller much against good manners, and that both the said parties have more zeal 



r Arbitrators 



APPENDIX. 409 

than discretion ; that one of them has more courage than patience, and the other 
more forbearance than courage. We think that about the subject matter on which 
they disputed, Mr. Haller manifested himself to be a tough Federalist, and Mr. 
Mulholland proved himself to be an unyielding Democrat ; that both of them were 
right, and both of them wrong ; that each of them told as much as suited his 
argument, and suppressed what was unfavorable to it ; and that both of them 
were incorrect, as well in argument as in conduct. We think that each owes an 
atonement to the other, but that the debt will be soonest paid by exacting nothing 
on either side. We award, therefore, that the expenses of the arbitration be paid 
equally between them ; and we recommend to them to avoid the discussion of 
politics hereafter, or to discuss them with better temper ; and always to remember 
that neither hard ivords nor hard blows are the best possible expedients for the conver- 
sion of adversaries. 

Done after supper, under our hands, this 2d day of May, 1814. 

S. SITGREAVES,-) 
JOHN ROSS, 
C. EVANS, 
FREDK. SMITH, 
GEO. WOLF, 
JOHN EWING. J 
H. WILSON, Umpire. 



HON. GEORGE WOLF. 

George Wolf was born the 12th of August, 177- in Allen (now East Allen) 
Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in what was then known as the 
Irish (or Craig's) settlement, one of the most fertile and desirable agricultural 
regions in America. His father, George Wolf, was a native of Germany, a man of 
plain manners and habits, but very upright and respectable. The Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians, by whom the neighborhood was settled, having, as was their wont, 
established a classical school in the vicinity of their church, young Wolf had an 
opportunity of obtaining a classical education without removing from his parental 
roof; and, having gone through about the usual routine of classical studies that 
would have fitted him for college, he was employed as clerk in the office of the 
Prothonotary, &c, of Northampton County, and while there commenced and com- 
pleted the study of the law, under the Hon. John Ross, of Easton, subsequently 
one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. 

He was admitted to the bar in 1798, supported the election of Thomas M'Keen 
as Governor in 1799, and Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800. He was ap- 
pointed Post-Master at Easton in 1801, and subsequently, in 1804, Clerk of the 
Orphans' Court of Northampton County, which he held until 1809. During this 
time he had quite a respectable practice at the bar, which greatly increased in 
after years, from his correct habits of business, and his familiarity with the Ger- 
man language. From 1817 to 1825 he brought and appeared to more suits than 
any member of the bar in the county. In 1814 he was elected a member of the 
House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, but declined being a candidate for re- 
election. In 1824 he was nominated and elected to Congress, the nomination 
being made without any effort on his part. He was re-elected in 1826 and .1828., 

28 



410 APPENDIX. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, he was nominated by the Democratic party as their 
candidate for Governor, without himself knowing that he was a candidate, and 
was elected in October of that year without any serious opposition. He was re- 
elected in 1832, and was defeated in 1835 by the Muhlenberg split. 

He was then appointed, by Mr. Van Buren, First Comptroller of the Treasury ; 
and, subsequently, Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, which latter situation he 
held at the time of his decease, which occurred very suddenly, from disease of the 
heart, on the 11th of March, 1840. 

At the bar Mr. Wolf was very careful and correct in the preparation of all his 
papers and pleadings. As a speaker, he was plain and argumentative, using good 
language, and conveying his ideas with precision. He never aimed at any flight 
of fancy in his public speaking. He had a large fund of that admirable talent, 
"common sense." In Congress he was distinguished for his habitual industry 
and attention to business, and as a chairman of an important committee made 
numerous reports, evincing those powers of investigation and discrimination for 
which it is conceded by all he was remarkable. As Governor, he was a Pennsyl- 
vanian out and out, firm, sustaining the credit of the State, the friend of prose- 
cuting the works of internal improvement begun under his predecessor ; and, what 
is his crowning glory, the friend of education and the author of the common school 
system, which he pressed upon the legislature, until, in conformity with his wishes, 
they established it. His successors followed his example, and the system has now 
become permanent. 

As a citizen, Mr. Wolf was a kind neighbor and a mild and honorable gentle- 
man. As a public ofiicer, he was gentle and courteous, but withal firm as a rock. 
As a man, he was upright and honest, and discharged all his duties so ably and 
correctly, as to leave a good memory behind him. He had a strong feeling towards 
his old friends, as evidence of which, he appointed, when Governor, his old pre- 
ceptor, Mr. Andrews, Clerk of the Orphans' Court in Philadelphia; and his old 
legal preceptor, Mr. Ross, Judge of the Supreme Court. 

The School Board of the Borough of Easton intend erecting a monument, on the 
High School grounds, in memory of Gov. George Wolf, the advocate and founder 
of the system of Common School Education in Pennsylvania. 



HON. WASHINGTON McCARTNEY. 

Hon. Washington McCartney, LL. D., was born in the County of Westmoreland, 
Pennsylvania, on the 24th day of August, A. D. 1812 ; and died July 15th, A. D. 
1856. 

At the time of his death he was President Judge of the Third Judicial District 
of Pennsylvania, composed of the Counties of Northampton and Lehigh, and also 
Principal of the Union Law School, founded by him, and located at Easton, Pa., the 
place of his residence for most of the last twenty years of his life. 

Judge McCartney graduated, with high honors, at Jefferson College, Canonsburg, 
Pa., in 1834, and was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Lafayette College, at 
Easton, Pa., September 24th, 1835. In 1836, he was appointed Professor of Mathe- 
matics and Modern Languages at Jefferson College, his alma mater, and fulfilled 
the duties of that professorship for about one year, when he again returned to 
Easton, resuming his Professorship in Lafayette College, August 15th, 1S37. He 



APPENDIX. 411 

resigned September 20th, 1843. Was again appointed to the same Professorship 
September 18th, 1844, and resigned in 1846 * and was appointed Professor of Men- 
tal and Moral Philosopby, March 13th, 1S49, which post he held for several years. 

He was admitted to the Bar of Northampton County, Pa., January 18th, 1838. 
Was appointed Deputy Attorney-General of that county in 1846, 1S47, and 1848 ; 
and was elected President Judge of the Third Judicial District, as above stated, at 
the first general election held for judges, under the amended Constitution, in the 
fall of 1851. He commenced his Law School in 1846, and in 1854 it was incorpo- 
rated by the legislature, under the name of " The Union Law School." It was in 
successful operation at the time of his death. The honorary degree of LL. D. was 
conferred upon him, by Marshall College, in 1852. He was married at Easton, Pa., 
April 18th, 1839, to Mary E. Maxwell, daughter of the late William Maxwell, Esq., 
of New Jersey, who, with three children, survives him. 

His death spread gloom over the whole community. A general sorrow pervaded 
it, expressive of a great public loss. Perhaps no man in it ever had a closer rela- 
tion to all its vital interests. Every good work found in him a patron. Without 
aspiring to leadership in anything, he was ever designing schemes to benefit his 
fellow men. There was scarcely a moral or benevolent enterprise connected with 
the history of the region where he resided for the twenty years previous to his 
death, with which he had not been identified. In the lecture-room and Bible 
class — in the college and school-room — at the forum and on the bench — his influ- 
ence for good was felt and acknowledged. With wonderful breadth of attainment, 
he combined a minuteness of knowledge that constituted him a prodigy among 
the students of every special department of literature. He published, in 1844, his 
celebrated work upon " Differential Calculus," which became at once the text-book 
in many of our best colleges and academies, and drew forth the praises of our 
finest mathematical scholars. His " History of the Origin and Progress of the 
United States," published in 1847, has been pronounced the best work on that 
subject issued by the American press. While not so graphic in description as Ban- 
croft's, or so elaborate as to the mere detail of events, yet it has been thought far 
more philosophic in its structure, and more satisfactory to the student. He deli- 
vered a very able and instructive course of lectures on Europe and the United 
States, both in Easton and before the young ladies of Mrs. Willard's Seminary, at 
Troy, N. Y. One of his lectures, styled " How to Read a Book," is a perfect gem, 
containing a mine of information and sound advice. His oration, delivered before 
the Literary Societies of Marshall College, in 1852, called forth deserved encomium 
arid applause. He left behind him a large number of manuscripts upon mathe- 
matics, logic, rhetoric, optics, and other interesting subjects, replete with learning 
and scientific knowledge, illustrated by the original suggestions of his vigorous 
mind. He was an erudite lawyer, familiar with all the lore of his profession. He 
made a masterly annotation of Coke's Institutes, and was preparing for publica- 
tion, at the time of his death, an excellent work upon Evidence. He held the 
office of President Judge from 1851 until the time of his death, adorning it by cul- 
ture, integrity, and marked excellence of character. To give greater scope to his 
love of legal science, he established his Law School, where he shaped the minds 
of many pupils, some now ornaments in their profession, who love to hallow his 
memory. Through many years of toil, without remuneration, he endeavored to 
develop to its fullest capacity the common school system, as applied to the borough 
of his residence, and in this he was eminently successful, for at the time of his 
death few towns in the country could boast of better common schools, or buildings 
more commodious and properly adapted to the comfort and health of the scholars. 



412 APPENDIX. 

As a citizen, lie was affable and guileless. His great characteristic in his social 
relations was tenderness as to the feelings of others, ever respectful to all, and 
careful to injure none. In this respect he was a model man. Wrath never escaped 
his lips, and malice never nestled in his heart. He was the type of a symmetrical 
Christian gentleman. While he made no parade of his religion, he was sincere in 
all his exercises and truthful in all his expressions. He was religiously intelli- 
gent. With lingual knowledge surpassed by few, and diligence untiring, he had 
explored the wide field of theological literature. He was remarkable in facility' 
for acquiring languages. Not only was he an accurate and finished German, 
French, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, and Oriental scholar, but within the last year of his 
life, with all his arduous duties on the Bench, in his Law School, as a member of 
the School Board, a Manager of the Easton Gas Company, and connected with 
various useful projects, he had commenced and partially mastered the acquisition 
of the Russian language. Yet with all this fund of knowledge, legal, philosophical, 
and theological, he was proverbially humble. Arrogance had no place in his 
constitution. Of vain boasting he was never guilty. An attached husband and 
devoted father, it was in the exercise of his domestic relations that his strong 
emotive nature had its fullest and most delicate play. His remains were interred 
in the Easton Cemetery, attended at his funeral by the judges of the court, the 
members of the bar of his district, members of council, of the school board, 
teachers and scholars of the High School, the professors and students of Lafayette 
College, students of his Law School, members of the Beneficial Society, and an 
immense concourse of citizens, assembled from the whole surrounding region, 
whose sorrow for his loss was manifested in a marked degree. Since his decease, 
a marble tablet, inscribed to his memory, has been placed in the wall of the main 
room of the High School building, by order of the School Directors. 



JOSIAH WHITE. 

Josiah White, who was first among the founders of the Lehigh Coal and Navi- 
gation Company, was a man of strongly marked character and great usefulness, 
and worthy of a more extended biographical notice than the following brief 
memoir. He was emphatically "a self-made man," and an engineer of the school 
of which James Brindley, the father of the canal system of England, was such a 
distinguished example. 

He was born at Mount Holly, New Jersey, in March, 1781. His father had a 
small fulling-mill at that place, by which the attention of the boy was probably 
early turned to mechanical pursuits. His father died when he was young, and the 
boy was brought to Philadelphia by his mother, who sought employment for him, 
and placed him in a hardware store. 

He went to work with a will, and soon mastered the details of the business and 
won the entire confidence of his employer, whom he succeeded in the trade as 
soon as he was old enough to set up for himself. Like Benjamin Franklin, he 
took pleasure, in after life, in telling how he used to wheel his own wheelbarrow, 
and distribute goods himself to his customers, working late and early, and living 
very economically. 

Having been born and brought up in the religious Society of Friends, to which 
he adhered throughout his life, he had their well-known good habits. 



APPENDIX. 418 

He rapidly acquired property, and soon accumulated a sufficiency for his mode- 
fate wants. When a young man he married a lady named Catharine Ridgway, 
who died not long after, leaving no children. 

Having retired from the hardware business, he bought a country place, with an 
unimproved water-power, about five miles from Philadelphia, at the Falls of 
Schuylkill. Here he began his engineering operations with an effort to improve 
that water-power. At first he intended to do but little, as he was mainly seeking 
occupation for his active and ardent temperament ; but he was gradually drawn 
on from little to more, as is often the case. 

In 1810 he married a second time, Elizabeth, the eldest of the two daughters of 
Solomon White, a merchant of Philadelphia ; the grounds of whose country resi- 
dence, "Rural Hall," extended from Callowhill Street, above Eleventh, through to 
the Ridge Road, in what is now a solidly built part of the city. His wife, though 
now deceased, survived him, and their union was for a long series of years a 
source of great happiness to them both. The writer of this brief notice takes a 
painful pleasure in expressing his high sense of her truly Christian character. 

Josiah White built a dam in the river Schuylkill, and a large lock, of cut stone, 
for passing river boats. This was the first lock built on the river, and it was not 
until after a very severe and expensive struggle with the water that the founda- 
tion was laid. He built a mill for the manufacture of wire, which was soon burned 
down, with a heavy loss, but immediately rebuilt. A wire suspension foot-bridge, 
of about 400 feet span, was erected across the river, from the mill to the opposite 
bank. A boat built of sheet-iron was also used for ferrying. For a time the wire 
business prospered, but the embargo and the war with Great Britain having passed 
away, British wire was imported so cheaply in 1815, that the business of making 
wire in the United States was ruined for the want of adequate protection. Joseph 
Gillingham and Erskine Hazard were partners with Josiah White in his operations 
at the Falls of Schuylkill. 

At that time the city of Philadelphia was supplied with water pumped by ex- 
pensive steam machinery, using wood for fuel. Josiah White proposed to contract 
to supply the city at a greatly reduced rate, by the substitution of water-power 
for steam. A long negotiation ensued, which finally resulted in the undertaking 
of the work by the city corporation, which bought the water-power of White and 
Gillingham for $150,000, and constructed the Fairmount Water- Works, so long 
the pride of Philadelphia. 

Experiments with anthracite coal had been made in the wire-mill at the Falls, 
and when the Schuylkill Navigation Company was chartered, in 1815, Josiah White 
took a lively interest in the enterprise ; but not being able to agree in opinion with 
the gentlemen who had the control of the company, he told them that he would 
have no more to do with it, and would go and set up a rival improvement upon 
the Lehigh. They ridiculed the idea, and thought that he was much more likely 
to ruin himself than to build up a rival to them. 

Very liberal legislation was obtained, giving the control of the Lehigh River to 
Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, and G. F. A. Hauto, with the powers of an internal 
improvement company. The first and second of the partners had long been asso- 
ciates and intimate friends ; and they were induced to associate the third with 
them, by the belief that he would be able to bring a large amount of capital to 
aid the undertaking. His representations were deceptive, and they were at last 
obliged to buy him off, to get rid of him. 

A large body of wild lands, containing an immense amount of anthracite coal, 



414 APPENDIX. 

having been purchased in the neighborhood of Manch Chunk, operations were 
commenced in 1818 to improve the river and to start the Lehigh coal trade. It 
was found to be a much more serious and expensive undertaking than had been 
anticipated. The Lehigh is a large stream, having a great deal of fall, and a very 
rocky bottom. The channels were crooked and intricate, and the fall was so great 
that when the river was low there was no navigation whatever. Messrs. White 
and Hazard were their own engineers. They waded in the stream ; they sounded 
the channels ; they took the levels of the rapids ; they directed the blasting of 
the rocks, the building of the wing dams, and the removal of the bars. But 
something more was needed to make a good descending navigation, and this was 
effected by means of a system of flushing, called "artificial freshets." These 
artificial freshets were produced at stated intervals, and generally daily during 
the season of navigation, by storing up water in the pools of dams built across the 
river, of log crib-work filled in with stone. Wide sluices, for passing rafts and 
coal arks, were made in these dams, and they were readily opened and shut by 
one man, by means of hydrostatic pressure, acting in a contrivance of Josiah 
White, known by the name of the "bear-trap lock." The arrangement was very 
simple and ingenious, and fully answered the intended purpose. The coal was 
then brought down the rivers Lehigh and Delaware to Philadelphia, in arks 
roughly built of white pine plank and boards, which lumber was sold after the 
coal was unloaded. These arks were nearly square, and several of them were 
fastened together in a line by means of iron hinges, so as to make a long flexible 
boat, which would float safely in rough water, and was steered by a long oar at 
each end. 

By means of this descending navigation the Lehigh coal trade was started in 
1820, two years in advance of that on the Schuylkill navigation ; and the coal 
continued to be carried in arks until after the Lehigh Canal was constructed 
and ready for use. The practical limit of the capacity of the descending naviga- 
tion was found to be about 30,000 tons per annum, which was then considered 
to be a large trade. The consumption of lumber in building coal arks was very 
large, and numerous saw-mills were built to furnish it. The coal was hauled 
in wagons from the Summit Mines, then worked as an open quarry, to Mauch 
Chunk, nearly nine miles, on a turnpike road, built with a descending grade. 
The anthracite coal trade of Pennsylvania, thus started by Josiah White and his 
partner, Erskine Hazard, in 1820, when 365 tons were sent to market, has grown to 
the immense aggregate of 7,700,000 tons in 1859, and it has conferred incalculable 
benefits upon the commonwealth. 

As a large capital was required for extended operations, a charter was obtained 
in 1822 for the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, and the rights of Messrs. 
White and Hazard were transferred by them to the new corporation for a large 
amount of its stock, they continuing to be its acting managers and engineers. In 
the spring of 1827 they laid a railroad, nine miles long, from the mines to Mauch 
Chunk, mostly on the bed of the old turnpike ; which was the first railroad in 
Pennsylvania, and the first in the United States, except a much shorter road from 
a granite quarry in Massachusetts. On the Mauch Chunk Railroad the loaded coal 
cars ran down to the river by gravity, and were hauled back when empty by 
mules. This pioneer railroad was considered to be a great curiosity, and attracted 
crowds of visitors to see it. 

In 1827, after the railroad was made, the construction of the Lehigh Canal and 
ascending navigation was vigorously undertaken, under the supervision of Car.- 



APPENDIX. 415 

vass White, who was a scientific civil engineer, and had been in charge of the 
construction of the eastern division of the Erie Canal of New York. Josiah White 
had much to do with the planning of the new works ; and he especially insisted 
on the locks being large, the canals wide and deep, and the bed of the river being 
used in many places for the boat channel. Thus the Lehigh Company was saved 
the enormous cost of a general enlargement of its works, which has had to be en- 
countered by so many other companies to meet the competition of rival lines. The 
Canal from Mauch Chunk to Easton, 46 miles, was opened in 1829. 

In 1835, Edwin A. Douglass became the Engineer of the Lehigh Company, and 
the ascending navigation was extended up the river from Mauch Cbunkto White- 
haven, by means of high dams and locks of great lift, the lift of one of them being 
thirty feet. A railroad was also constructed through a very difficult country from 
Whitehaven to Wilkesbarre. 

For some years the Lehigh Company prospered, its credit was excellent, and its 
stock much above par. Josiah White had returned to Philadelphia to reside with 
his family, had retired from active business, and was in possession of an ample 
fortune, a large part of which was in the stock of the Lehigh Company. His three 
sons had all died young, and with his wife and two daughters he devoted himself 
much to benevolent enterprises. 

In January, 1841, when he was about sixty years of age, occurred the memor- 
able flood in the Lehigh, when in a few hours a vast amount of devastation was 
done, and, in the language of the newspapers, "the beautiful navigation was swept 
away, and the river was a clear stream from mountain to mountain." 

Josiah White's wonderful pluck, courage, power of endurance, indomitable per- 
severance, and elasticity of hope, were signally displayed on this trying occasion. 
His strength rose with the burden, and he never faltered. His own pecuniary loss 
was greater than that of any other individual, and his efforts until the damage 
was repaired were in proportion great. He saw the canal repaired, and lived to 
see its tonnage increase to more than 700,000 tons per annum. 

At an early age his attention had been strongly turned to the fact, that cheap 
coal and cheap iron are the main pillars of modern physical civilization. Next to 
cheap coal he was anxious to produce cheap iron, and he was firm in the faith 
that before many years, the iron ores of Eastern Pennsylvania would be princi- 
pally smelted with anthracite coal. As the forests were cleared and charcoal became 
dearer, the cost of making iron in small charcoal furnaces was constantly increasing 
and the production was necessarily limited in amount. He knew that in England 
iron was made on a great scale by the use of bituminous coal and coke ; and he 
believed that anthracite would soon be made to serve the same purpose. His first 
experiments with that end in view did not however result in practical success. 

In the spring of 1837, George Crane, an iron master at Yniscedwin, near Swansea, 
in South Wales, after many unsuccessful efforts, succeeded practically on a large 
scale in making good iron with anthracite coal, by means of a continuous and 
powerful hot blast. His furnace did not chill up, and he continued to make good 
iron in large quantities and at a fair profit ; competing advantageously with the 
coke made iron of the neighboring iron masters, who had sneered at his efforts and 
predicted his failure. 

At that time one of the nephews of Josiah White, Solomon W. Roberts, was 
sojourning in Wales, where he passed some months, superintending the making 
of railroad iron for some of the railroads near Philadelphia, and studying the sub- 
ject of making cheap iron on a large scale. Having visited the Yniscedwin iron 



416 APPENDIX. 

works, he became well acquainted with George Crane, and studied his processes 
and results. These he communicated to his uncle, Josiah White, who took up the 
subject at once, and originated the arrangements which resulted in the formation 
of the Lehigh Crane Iron Company, whose extensive works under the able man- 
agement of David Thomas, who was formerly with George Crane, have added so 
much to the population and wealth of the Lehigh Valley. The five furnaces 
belonging to the Crane Iron Company made more than 41,000 tons of pig iron in 
1859. The great and growing importance of the anthracite iron trade of Pennsyl- 
vania, has already vindicated the foresight of Josiah White in this particular. 

One of the marked traits of his character was his power of attaching other men 
to him. He took a lively personal interest in those whom he employed, and in 
the prosperity of their families. Many men remained with him during a long 
series of years, and were promoted from time to time as the business increased, 
and opportunity permitted. He required of them industry, temperance, and faith- 
fulness ; and his brotherly kindness to all who were working under his direction, 
in any capacity, however humble, was very remarkable. He never looked upon 
a man as a machine made merely to labor, but as a living, intelligent, responsible, 
feeling, and immortal being, and to be trained and treated as such. The result 
was that he acquired the enduring attachment of those whom he employed ; they 
sympathized with his losses, and they rejoiced in his prosperity ; and in his his- 
tory has been verified the declaration that "the memory of the just is blessed." 

He was a man of great mechanical ingenuity, and of unusual energy and self- 
reliance ; and, never having had the benefit of scientific training, he relied more 
upon his own experiments than upon the recorded experience of others. He was, 
however, very quick at taking hints, and industrious in recording the results of his - 
own observations. 

In the latter part of his career he was brought into intimate association with 
many gentlemen of high culture, capital, and influence ; and he never failed to 
secure their respect by his candor, sound common sense, and straightforward inte- 
grity of purpose. He was a positive man, and generally ready to give positive 
opinions on all subjects that interested his mind; but he had no desire either to 
give or to take offence ; and, as he grew older, he became more and more consi- 
derate of the feelings and prejudices of those that differed from him. His charity 
became of a more comprehensive character, and his beneficence was great. He 
was an active member of the Orthodox Society of Friends, and he devoted much 
time to the careful study of the Bible. He founded and endowed two manual labor 
schools in the States of Iowa and Indiana, for the support and education of poor 
children of the most needy and suffering classes of the community. The illness 
which resulted in his death originated in a cold contracted on his return from a 
western tour, undertaken for benevolent purposes. 

In order to expedite the completion of the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania 
Canal, he accepted for a short time the office of Canal Commissioner. 

His figure was of the middle height, and somewhat stout, his complexion fair, 
and his usual manner animated and cheerful. 

He died in peace, on the 14th of November. 1850, in the seventieth year of age, 
at his own house in Philadelphia. His closing years were blessed with " honor, 
love, obedience, troops of friends, and all that should accompany old age." 



APPENDIX. 417 



HON. JAMES MADISON PORTER. 

James Madison Porter was born at his father's residence, " Selma," one mile north 
of Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, on the 6th of January, 1793. 
His father was General Andrew Porter, a meritorious officer of the Revolution, who 
served throughout the whole war, and at its close was Colonel of the Fourth or 
Pennsylvania Regiment of Artillery. Beside his military services, he held a high 
rank in the scientific world as a mathematician and astronomer. Subsequent to 
the Revolutionary War, he was engaged for some years in the scientific commis- 
sions for running the lines between New York and Pennsylvania, and New York 
and Virginia, by astronomical observations ; in which latter service he became 
intimate with Bishop Madison, of Virginia, who was a Commissioner from that 
State, and after whom he named his youngest son. The mother of the subject of 
this notice was Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, whose maiden name was Parker. She became 
the second wife of General Porter. She, too, was a woman of strong intellect, and 
of very extensive attainments, although almost entirely self-educated, but she was 
well educated, and of extensive reading. She was one of the women of the Revo- 
lution, and passed through a number of trying scenes in that eventful period. 
James was the youngest of their children, and received the rudiments of his edu- 
cation at home, under the immediate eye of his father and mother. At nine years 
of age, he commenced the study of the dead languages, in company with his 
brothers, David R. Porter and George B. Porter, under a private tutor, at his father's 
residence. In about a year after, the three boys became students of the Norristown 
Academy, then just established under charge of the Rev. John Jones, a Presby- 
terian Clergyman, where they pursued their studies for about two years. By this 
time they were all three qualified to enter the junior class at college. But a 
rebellion occurred at Princeton College, during which the building was burned 
down, and the project of sending them to any other college was discussed by their 
parents, and ultimately abandoned. Their father resided upon his farm, and was 
possessed of an excellent library of choice books. The boys were retained at home, 
doing the work on the farm, and pursuing their studies at the family mansion until 
the year 1809, when General Porter was appointed Surveyor-General of Pennsyl- 
vania. In August of that year, there was a great press of business in the land 
office, in consequence of the approaching expiration of the time limited by law for 
patenting lands. His father sent for his son James to come up and assist as a 
clerk in his office, as there was no appropriation for extra clerks. He came up for 
about four months, wrote diligently in that office ; the only compensation which 
he received therefor being the knowledge he acquired of the practice of the land 
office, which he turned to good account when he came to the bar. During the 
Christmas holidays in December, 1809, he entered the office of John Passmore, 
Esq., then Prothonotary and Clerk of the Courts of Lancaster County, where, in 
the course of two years, by unlimited diligence, he became familiar with the prac- 
tice of the law in all the inferior courts as well as in the Supreme Court, of which 
Mr. Passmore was also Prothonotary. He left this situation in January, 1812, 
much to the regret of Mr. Passmore, and, after visiting Washington City, pro- 
ceeded to Reading, Pennsylvania, to continue the study of the law, without inter- 
ruption, with his eldest brother, the Honorable Robert Porter, then President Judge 



418 APPENDIX. 

of the Third Judicial District, and carried out that intention until the. month of 
August of that yeai-, when, at the request of the Prothonotary of the District Court 
of the City and County of Philadelphia, he proceeded to that city to fill, tempora- 
rily, the place of Court Clerk in that office. This was intended to be but a tem- 
porary arrangement, but it turned out that Mr. Porter remained in this situation, 
reading law in the meantime under the direction of William Delany, Esq., until 
the 23d of April, 1813, when he was admitted to the bar of the District Court of 
the City and County of Philadelphia, after an examination, as appears by the record, 
by Charles Chauncey, Samson Levy, and William Milnor, Jr., Esquires. 

In the March preceding, there was a rumor that British men-of-war were lying 
off the Capes of the Delaware, with the intent, as soon as the ice had left that river, 
to send barges with congreve rockets, &c, to burn the city of Philadelphia; the 
only fortification in defence of which was fort Mifflin, some seven miles below 
the city. This fort was without troops, except some few invalids which had been 
left there the fall before by Colonel (afterwards General) Scott, when they removed 
the troops from Philadelphia to Greenbush. Mr. Porter, being in a coffee-house at 
Philadelphia, heard some of the high-toned federal merchants of that day abusing 
Mr. Madison, the President, very violently, for leaving the city so defenceless, and 
observed to them that it would be better to put their own shoulders to the wheel 
and defend the city themselves, than to be calling upon Hercules to assist them. 
Some sharp language ensued, and he went up to the office of the Democratic Press, 
then published by Col. John Binns, and, as it was twelve o'clock, got the editor to 
stop the press, until he wrote a call for a meeting of the association of Democratic 
young men, of which he was one of the Secretaries. The call was published, and 
the meeting hsld at Stratton's tavern, Chestnut near Sixth Street, the same even- 
ing, at which meeting a volunteer company of upwards of seventy men was formed 
to man the fort. The members resolved to parade next morning in uniform, and 
did so — their uniforms being blue roundabouts and pantaloons, blacks stocks, and 
citizens' hats. They raked the slop-shops of the city, got the uniforms, and formed 
under their officers, Capt., Jacob H. Fisler, 1st Lieut., William Rodderfield, 2d 
Lieut., James M. Porter, marched up to the State Arsenal, where Major Sharp, the 
Brigade Inspector, furnished them with muskets. They then proceeded to the 
quarters of General Broomfield, the Commandant of the military district, and ten- 
dered their services to him. The old gentleman accepted them, and gave the 
necessary orders for the company, with that of Captain Mitchell, to proceed to Fort 
Mifflin, which they did two days afterwards, and remained there until the begin- 
ning of April, when, their places being supplied by United States troops, they were 
discharged by a general order, dated April 7th, 1813, in which General Bloomfield 
complimented them for their promptness and alacrity in tendering their services 
to garrison Fort Mifflin, on the first intimation of the emergency, and their zeal, 
activity, and patience at the fort in the discharge of their duties as citizen sol- 
diers. 

Upon his admission to the bar, Mr. Porter, who had originally thought of settling 
in Lancaster, opened his office in the city of Philadelphia, where he soon succeeded 
to a very good practice, and extended his practice to the counties of Chester and 
Montgomery regularly, and to Delaware and Bucks occasionally. He remained in 
Philadelphia until the year 1818, during which time he was successfully elected 
major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel of the 72d regiment Pennsylvania militia, 
having succeeded to the last of those before he was twenty-three years of age. 
He also, during this time, acted as judge advocate of the courts martial for trying 



APPENDIX. 419 

delinquents and deserters, ordered into service during the war of 1812, from Phila- 
delphia and Chester Counties. He also, for a young man, took a prominent part 
in politics, and was a candidate of his party one year for common council of the 
city, but, with the rest of the ticket, was defeated by their political opponents. 

In 1818, Amos Ellmaker, Esq., then attorney-general of the State, offered him 
the appointment of deputy attorney-general of Northampton County, which, after 
consulting his friends, he accepted, inasmuch as Judge Ross had left the bar for 
the bench, and Mr. Sitgreaves, the leading practitioner, was advancing in years. 
He accordingly removed to Easton in April, 1818, which place has been his resi- 
dence ever since. In ten years' time, by the decease of Mr. Sitgreaves, and the 
election of George Wolf as governor, he found himself, in age, the head of the bar, 
as he was also in talents and learning, although still comparatively a young man. 
He pursued his profession with great assiduity and success, and has probably 
tried, in the course of his life, as many causes as any other practitioner in the 
State. Before he had been seven years at the bar, it is said he had defended, 
with success, at least ten persons charged with homicide ; and has tried both in 
the inferior courts and in error a very large amount of heavy civil business. His 
name will be found in the Supreme Court reports from 5th Sergeant and B.awle 
through some seventy or eighty volumes, to the last book of reports. He earned 
through the Common Pleas and Supreme Court the assize of nuisance, in Ihrie vs. 
Barnet, which was contested inch by inch by Mr. Sitgreaves, Mr. Joel Jones, and 
Mr. Binney. Afterwards, in conjunction with Mr. Hale Jones, he contested the 
bequests and devises in Peter Miller's will, in opposition to Mr. A. E. Brown and 
Mr. John Sergeant, in both which cases he displayed an amount of acquaintance 
with the black letter lore of the law, which few of the present day possess. He 
possessed a most retentive memory, and it is related of him that, being in Lan- 
caster about the year 1821 or 1822, when in the court, trying a cause, it became 
desirable to have the record of an actjon which had been tried some years before, 
and as the prothonotary's clerk was going out to search for it, Mr. Porter told him 
to get the appearance docket of a certain term Which he named, and he would find 
the suit No. 1 of that term. The clerk went to the office and found it was so, very 
much to the astonishment of the court and the bar, for he had not seen the docket 
or any of the proceedings for a dozen of years. 

His entire familiarity with the form of proceedings gave him great advantages 
in the practice of his profession. He wrote an exceedingly rapid hand, was very 
industrious, and made full briefs in all his cases ; the advantages of doing which, 
he reaped in his after practice, having fully prepared briefs in almost all questions 
that could arise. 

By a peculiar system of mnemonics, early adopted by him, he always asso- 
ciated the names of the parties with points decided in the case when he read the 
reports ; from this simple fact, it has been truly said of him by judges before 
whom he practised, that he could gather more law in a short time than almost any 
lawyer they ever knew. He has tried causes in almost all, if not quite all the 
counties east of the Susquehanna, and he has also tried some in counties west of 
that river. He is very prompt and energetic at all times, but especially so where 
a new point is attempted to be sprung upon him during the trial of a cause. He 
has improved his mind and style very much by attention to belles-lettres and mis- 
cellaneous reading. In speaking, he has a fine command of language, and may 
be called eloquent to a high degree. No man can better play on the passions and 
feelings of a jury, and few if any public speakers are more powerful and demonstra- 
tive in argument. He seems to have been formed and educated for a lawyer. 



420 APPENDIX. 

He slimes, too, in deliberative bodies, both as a speaker and a parliamentary- 
tactician, having made himself perfectly master of parliamentary rules while a 
member and spectator of legislative proceedings, and also while a member, and for 
a portion of the time presiding officer of the convention of Pennsylvania in 1837 
and 1838. In his speaking, he has more of the fortiter in re than of the suaviter 
in modo, preferring to deal in solid argument and biting sarcasm to dallying with 
soft words and pretty speeches. He abounds in keen wit, and is ready at repartee. 
His rule has always been, never to commence a personal attack upon his opponent, 
and never sparing an opponent who commences a personal attack upon him. He 
adopts the Scotch maxim — nemo me impune lacessit. In all his professional affairs, 
he has been one of the most successful practitioners, as he is acknowledged to be 
one of the best read and ablest lawyers in the State. 

He was elected in 1838 a member of the reform convention of Pennsylvania, and 
on the assembling of that body in May, 1837, was the Democratic candidate for its 
presiding officer. The Whigs and Anti-masons had a majority of one, and they 
elected the Honorable John Sergeant by that majority over him ; but Mr. Sergeant 
and Mr. Porter being personal friends, Mr. Porter was appointed chairman of the 
committee on the bill of rights, and, subsequently, when Mr. Sergeant was absent, 
attending to his congressional duties, he appointed Mr. Porter president pro tern, 
in pursuance of a resolution of the convention, so that he presided over that body 
during about one-third of the time it sat, with great ability and energy. 

He spoke frequently and with great force and effect during the deliberations of 
that body. His speeches are replete with that strong common sense which charac- 
terizes his efforts. He sustained his character for conservative Democracy, and 
opposed all rash and radical experiments in government — showing that he was as 
much at home in constitutional as he was in common law. The amendments having 
been carried further than he thought was expedient, he opposed their adoption by 
the people, and his constituents in Northampton County, one of the most Democratic 
counties in the State, gave nearly two thousand majority against the amendments. 

In June, 1839, on the resignation of the Hon. Calvin Blythe, he was appointed 
President Judge of the 12th Judicial District of Pennsylvania, composed of the 
counties of Dauphin, Schuylkill, and Lebanon, in vacation, and was nominated and 
confirmed by the Senate at the next session. Between his first appointment and 
his nomination to the Senate, the criminal proceedings instituted by Governor 
Fdtner and his administration against the Democrats, who were at Harrisburg 
during what was called the Buckshot War, came before Judge Porter in the Quarter 
Sessions and Oyer and Terminer of Dauphin County. There was a great deal of 
political excitement about this matter, but he met it fearlessly, and after quashing 
arraigns and attaching the county commissioners for disobedience and contempt, in 
not pursuing the directions of law, in selecting and drawing jurors and quashing 
indictments and presentments by grand jurors thus drawn, and the prosecution 
neglecting to send proper bills against the parties accused, he discharged the de- 
fendants by proclamation, and thus ended the celebrated Buckshot War; very 
much, it is supposed, to the satisfaction of those who commenced it. His political 
opponents, however, endeavored to make all the capital they could out of it, and 
opposed his confirmation by the Senate, and lavished upon him no small share of 
abuse. But several of the courts of the commonwealth and the Court of Nisi Prius 
made similar decisions in relation to the selection and drawing of jurors, and the 
Supreme Court confirmed his attachment for contempt against the county com- 
missioners, and satisfied the bar, as well as the people, that his decisions were 



APPENDIX. 421 

right. When the final question upon his confirmation came up, and a vote had 
to be taken, his political opponents left the Senate, to prevent, if possible, a quorum 
from voting ; but in this they failed, and he was triumphantly confirmed. He re- 
mained upon the bench of that district until the latter part of July, 1840, when he 
resigned and returned to the practice of the law at Easton. His clearness of ap- 
prehension, his sound law knowledge, his promptness and decision of character, 
and his stern integrity and independence, fitted him peculiarly for the bench. 
His resignation was therefore a matter of great regret to the people of the district 
over which he presided. Returning to the bar, he soon resumed his practice in 
Northampton and adjoining counties. In the early part of March, 1843, while Mr. 
Porter was attending to a cause in the Circuit Court of the United States, in Phila- 
delphia, he received an invitation from President Tyler to come to Washington. 
On arriving there, he was informed that the President wished him to take charge 
of the office of Secretary of War of the United States. After some consultation 
together he agreed to accept it, and was commissioned and sworn into office about 
the 8th of that month, and applied himself assiduously to the duties of it, to the 
satisfaction of all persons having business to transact with it. He gave it his 
entire personal attention, and established the character of being one of the best 
secretaries who had ever filled the department. His report made to the President, 
which accompanied his message to Congress in December, 1843, is a methodical, 
lucid, and intelligent document ; as much so as any that ever emanated from the 
War Department. His whole administration of the office met the unqualified ap- 
probation of the officers of the army, who still hold him in grateful remembrance 
for the kindness, amenity, and promptness in his business intercourse with them. 
But Mr. Tyler had offended the Whigs by the independence and democracy of his 
measures, and certain politicians of the Democratic party feared his success with 
their party ; in this complication of political feeling, Mr. Porter's nomination was 
not confirmed by the Senate, when the matter was brought up before that body in 
the latter end of January, 1844. This result was brought about by political con- 
siderations only. He immediately resigned, although commissioned until the end 
of the session of Congress, and was succeeded by the Hon. William Wilkins of 
Pittsburg. 

His rejection by the Senate, most probably, was the means of saving his life. 
He had been invited to attend a fete given on board the steam Frigate Princeton 
by Commodore Stockton. He sent an apology, as by his arrangements he was to 
leave the city on the morning of that day, which he did, and on its evening re- 
ceived intelligence at Harrisburg of the bursting of the gun on board that vessel 
whereby Judge Upshur, the Secretary of State, Mr. Gilmer, the Secretary of the 
Navy, Mr. Marcy, Col. Gardiner, and others, had been killed. Judge Porter, having 
been an artillery officer, having devoted a good deal of attention to the subject of 
ordnance, and, having no fears of gunpowder, would most probably have been 
near the breech of the piece when it exploded, and have been killed as the others 
were. 

Returning again to the bar at Easton, he resumed the practice of the law, his 
business having suffered little during the absence of a year. He pursued his pro- 
fession with unAbated vigor until the fall of 1849, when he was elected a member 
of the State legislature, and, at the opening of that body, was appointed by the 
Speaker at the head of the Judiciary Committee, of which he made a learned and 
industrious chairman. It was composed of Judge Porter, Judge Conyngham, Judge 
Smyser, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Parker, of Northumberland, Mr. Craig Biddle, Mr. Rhey, 



422 APPENDIX. 

Mr. Laird, and Mr. Scofield, embracing some of the ablest lawyers in the State ; 
and, by their course of conduct, they established the reputation of being, perhaps, 
the ablest Judiciary Committee ever appointed in the House of Representatives of 
this State. They were strongly conservative, and opposed to all radical, hasty, 
and inconsiderate measures. Among other subjects upon which they acted and 
reported, was that of repealing in part the act to prevent kidnapping, passed 3d 
March, 1847, in which an interesting review is made of the constitutional and 
legislative provisions on the subject of fugitive slaves, and the power of Congress 
and the State to legislate in relation thereto. The paper is one of great ability, 
and is understood to be the work of Judge Porter, the chairman, and adopted by 
all the members of the committee. It will be found on the journal of the House 
of that year, page 495, &c. Upon the adjournment of the legislature, Mr. Porter 
returned to Easton, and was not re-elected to the legislature. 

In the spring of 1853, the Hon. N. B. Eldred resigned the office of President 
Judge of the Twenty-second Judicial District, composed of the counties of Wayne, 
Pike, Monroe, and Carbon. The Hon. George R. Barret was commissioned to suc- 
ceed him until the next election, when Mr. Porter was elected to fill the situation 
for the ensuing ten years. On the 1st December, 1853, he was inducted into office, 
and held the courts of Wayne, Pike, Monroe, and Carbon Counties, until the latter 
end of March, 1855, when, in consequence of ill health, he was obliged to resign, 
to the great regret of the people of the district. During his administration of the 
judicial affairs of the Twenty-second District, he gave, as Presiding Judge, entire 
satisfaction, for the ability, learning, and integrity manifested in his judicial office. 
He then again commenced the practice of the law at Easton, as far as his health 
permitted, and has pursued it with his usual industry, as it regards office and con- 
sulting business, although, until recently, he has not tried as many causes as 
formerly. His health has now measurably been re-established. 

Since his residence at Easton, Judge Porter has been at the head of nearly all 
the improvements in the place. He has served some twelve or fifteen years in the 
municipal corporation of the borough, and greatly aided in the regulation and im- 
provement of the streets and footwalks. The Lafayette College, in a great measure, 
owes its origin to him, who originated it, and by his funds, as well as by his per- 
sonal exertions, largely contributed to its support. For twenty-five years he served 
as President of the Board of Trustees of that institution without compensation, 
and resigned that situation some five years since ; nearly the same length of time 
he was Professor of Jurisprudence of that college, also without compensation, in 
which capacity he delivered several lectures of great merit on constitutional law. 
For a long period he was, and still is, the President of the Easton Delaware Bridge 
Company, and bestowed much attention to its affairs. This is also one of the great 
local institutions of the place, commanding a large capital, and no small influence. 
He served several years as President of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad Company, 
and was also for a number of years President of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com- 
pany, which road was constructed under his administration. 

One of his late enterprises was the origination of The Dime Savings Institute of 
Easton, which is now in a very wholesome and flourishing condition. Later still, 
he was one of the originators of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute of Easton, 
which was organized and chartered in 1855. The object of this institution is to 
promote the interests of agriculture and the mechanic arts. Their exhibition 
building is surpassed by none in the country since the destruction of the Crystal 
Palace, and their annual fairs are well encouraged. 



APPENDIX. 423 

He is a man of great enterprise and liberality, and it may well be said of him, 
that he has done more for the improvement and the interest of the borough of 
Easton and the county of Northampton than any other man in it. 

In the year 1843 he received from Marshall College, as the free will offering of 
that institution, the degree of Doctor of Laws, which, he remarked, was the only 
college degree he had ever taken. He is a fine classical scholar, with an immense 
stock of general information, and his general reading is perhaps equal to that of 
most men in the country. 

How he has found time to acquire the minute knowledge which he seems to 
possess on almost every subject, is a marvel to all, and when some person spoke 
to him, not long since, in relation to his extensive attainments and general litera- 
ture, he remarked, " that nature had blessed him with a very retentive memory, 
that his father was a man of science and general reading, and had given him a 
good education, and that his mother was a most remarkable woman for her general 
attainments, especially in classical literature, and had done everything to give 
him a taste for the English classics, and created in him an ambition, if possible, 
to equal her. That he had mixed much with the world and his professional 
brethren, and, therefore, little credit was due him personally, if he had reached 
mediocrity in his attainments, for he had been but the creature of the circumstances 
in which he had been placed." 

Judge Porter has never given anything to the world in the shape of a regular 
book. There are, however, a great number of his speeches reported in the debates 
of the convention, and some in our periodical works ; and occasional jeu d'esprit 
in the shape of poetry, parody, &c, and several addresses or lectures delivered 
before colleges, literary societies, &c, among which may be enumerated an address 
in 1831 on "Education and College Learning," before Lafayette College ; an address 
before the Mechanics' Institute of Easton, a few years later, on "Mental Cultivation 
as applied to Mechanic Arts;" an address, in 1838, before the literary societies of 
Marshall College, drawing a parallel between the " Olympic Games and the Modern 
System of Mental Training ;" a lecture, in 1840, before the Mercantile Library 
Company of Philadelphia, on " The Anglo-Saxon Race, and their probable Influence 
upon the Destinies of Mankind ;" a lecture, in 1843, before the William Wirt In- 
stitute of Philadelphia, on the subject of " Pennsylvania, her Institutions and her 
Men;" a centenary address delivered in Easton in 1852, "Northampton County 
and its Folks ;" which have been printed in pamphlet form, and several other 
addresses of his have also been printed in newspapers. 

He is now about sixty-seven years of age ; and it may be said of him, as can be 
said of few others, that he has always been found equal to every position in which 
he has been placed. Few families have produced four brothers equal in ability to 
Robert Porter, David Rittenhouse Porter, George Bryan Porter, and last, though 
not least, James Madison Porter. 



HON. HENRY D. MAXWELL. 

Henry D. Maxwell was born in the village of Flemington, Hunterdon County, 
New Jersey, on the fifth day of December, A. D. 1812. His great-grandfather, 
John Maxwell, who was of Scottish extraction, emigrated to this country from the 
North of Ireland in the year 1747. He had been a farmer in Ireland, and, in 



424 APPENDIX. 

removing, brought with him his whole family, consisting of four sons and two 
daughters. He purchased a fine tract of land in Greenwich Township, in then 
Sussex, now Warren County, New Jersey, about three miles from Easton, where he 
settled and resided until his death. His eldest son, William, who had been in a 
counting-house in Dublin previous to the family emigration here, attached himself 
to the English army, went west with it in the time of what is known as the French 
War, was with Braddock, also at Quebec when Wolfe fell, and was at the battle of 
the Three Rivers. He was in the commissary department of the British army 
stationed at Mackinaw when the Revolutionary War broke out. He immediately 
threw up his commission, marched on foot, through a then wilderness, to Trenton, 
and there tendered his services to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, who 
gave him a colonel's commission, with directions to raise a battalion to proceed to 
Quebec. He enlisted some of the finest young men of the State, a number of 
whom joined him from Princeton College, among them the subsequent Governor 
Howell, who continued his warm personal friend until his death. He subsequently 
received the appointment of brigadier-general, and made an active and efficient 
officer, highly esteemed by General Washington, who reposed great confidence in 
his patriotism, prudence, and valor. He was engaged in the battles of Brandy- 
wine, Germantown, and Monmouth, was with the suffering army at Valley Forge, 
and had principal command in the battle of Springfield in 1780. He also, at 
Washington's request, accompanied General Sullivan in the expedition of that 
gallant officer against the Indians in 1779. Washington, on transmitting his 
resignation to Congress, said : " I believe him to be an honest man, a warm friend 
to his country, and firmly attached to its interests." 

John Maxwell, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was the second son 
of his father, born November 25, 1739, and was of course quite young at the time 
of his emigration. That spirit of freedom which strongly characterized the Scotch- 
Irish who came to this country induced him to join the first company raised in 
Sussex County, New Jersey, for the defence of his adopted country, of which com- 
pany he was made lieutenant. He subsequently joined the Revolutionary army 
as captain of one hundred volunteers. When he reported himself to Washington, 
then in great need of recruits, as Captain Maxwell, with one hundred good men 
and true from Sussex, the commander-in-chief gave him a most cordial reception, 
and made marked expression of the pleasure his appearance caused. He partici- 
pated in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, 
and Springfield, and long lived to enjoy the fruits of that independence he had 
aided to win. He died at Flemington, February 15, 1828, aged eighty-nine years, 
universally respected and esteemed. His first wife was a Miss Clifford, a lady of 
great strength of mind and character, a regular descendant of one of the Pilgrims 
who came over in the Mayflower. Their eldest son, George C. Maxwell, became 
one of the leading lawyers of New Jersey, the compeer of Stockton, Hunter, and 
the famous lawyers of that day, and represented New Jersey in Congress in 1S12. 
Their youngest son, William, prepared himself for Princeton College while on his 
father's farm in Greenwich, N. J., walking daily from there to Easton to secure the 
instruction of the Rev. Messrs. Feltus and Miles, two distinguished instructors, 
who taught there for many years. He had commenced the languages under the 
tuition of his brother-in-law, the late Adam Ramsay, Esq., of Phillipsburg, N. J., 
and prepared himself to enter the junior class in Princeton in a year and a half 
from the commencement of his study of the languages. At Nassau Hall he formed 
one of that celebrated class of 1804, of which Samuel L. Southard, Theodore Fre- 



APPENDIX. 425 

linghuysen, Joseph R. Ingersoll, George Chambers, and Philip Lindley were mem- 
bers, and who, with a number of others of that class, became distinguished men 
in after life, reflecting honor both upon themselves and their alma mater. He was 
a favorite with both his instructors and classmates. After graduating, he studied 
law with his brother, and was admitted an attorney at law in New Jersey, Novem- 
ber 10, 1808. He continued in the practice of his profession at Flemington, N. J., 
until his death, in 1828. As evidence of his popularity and position, the records 
of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Pa., show his admission 
as an attorney of that court, January 24, 1810 ; and December 2, 1811, he was 
admitted as attorney in the county of Bucks. 

Henry D. Maxwell was his eldest son, and was prepared to enter Princeton Col- 
lege in the fifteenth year of his age, when his father's death required him to 
abandon this cherished project, and bend his energies in aid of a widowed mother, 
who was left with six children. He at this early age commenced to battle life for 
himself. He obtained a situation as usher at the boarding-school of the Rev. 
Robert Steel, D. D., at Abington, Pa., and there for about eighteen months prepared 
young men, many of whom were his seniors, for that college life which he was 
required to forego. From this place he returned to his home in Flemington, and 
commenced the study of the law, under the late Nathaniel Saxton, Esq., a distin- 
guished practitioner of the Hunterdon County bar, which study he afterwards 
pursued with Thomas A. Hartwell, Esq., in Somerville, and completed with his 
cousin, the Hon. John P. B. Maxwell, at Belvidere. He was admitted to the bar 
of New Jersey, September 4, 1834. His mother (a daughter of the late Major 
Henry Dusenberry, a successful merchant in Philadelphia, and at New Hampton, 
N. J.) having removed to Easton, Pa., in the autumn of 1833, he, at her request, 
determined to remain with her, for a time at least, and commenced the practice of 
law at Phillipsburg, N. J., residing with his mother at Easton. He was admitted 
to the bar of Northampton County, Pa., on the seventh day of November, A. D. 
1834, and opened an office in Easton in 1835. He was subsequently admitted to 
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in December, 1836, and to the Supreme Court 
of the United States in 1841. Shortly after he opened his office in Easton he asso- 
ciated himself in partnership with the Hon. J. M. Porter, and continued in that 
connection for several years. In 1848 he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General 
for the county of Northampton, and again in 1849. In 1850, his health having 
become impaired by too close application, he was appointed by General Taylor 
Consul to Trieste, in Austria, to which post he repaired, and continued in the exer- 
cise of its duties about one year, when he resigned, and returned to his home and 
the pursuits of his profession. He continued in the active discharge of these until 
in July, 1856, when he was appointed, by Governor Pollock, President Judge of the 
Third Judicial District of Pennsylvania, to succeed his brother-in-law, the Hon. 
Washington McCartney, who had died. He was again reappointed in December, 
1856, and continued in the discharge of the duties of that important post until 
December 1, 1857 ; how satisfactorily, will appear by the subjoined extract from 
the Allentown Democrat, of December 9, 1857, all the more complimentary in ap- 
pearing in a paper of an opposite political character: — 

" On Wednesday of last week, Judge Maxwell held an adjourned court in this 
borough which terminated his connection with us as President Judge of this judi- 
cial district. The following letter, signed by all the members of the Bar, and other 
citizens of the county, was addressed to him asking his participancy in a public 

29 



426 APPENDIX. 

entertainment to be given as a testimonial of their appreciation of his character as 
a man and as a jurist. 

Allentown, Dec. 1, 1857. 
Hon. Henry D. Maxwell. Dear Sir : The undersigned members of the Bar of 
Lehigh County and other of its citizens, anxious to give some appropriate expression 
of their high opinion of your character as a man and jurist, do hereby invite you to 
participate with them in a public entertainment at such time and place as may best 
suit your convenience. The relation that has existed between us for the past two 
years enables us to accord to you the highest praise as a patient, courteous, in- 
dustrious, honest, and learned Judge, and impels us to regret that we are about 
to part with one whom in that important position we have learned to esteem 
so highly. In returning once more to the labors of the Profession we beg leav^e 
to assure you of our best wishes for your happiness and prosperity and of our 
firm belief that one who so well performed the duties of a Judge, and sustained the 
dignity of the Bench, can never fail to grace and adorn the Bar." 

The same paper states that the festival that followed was a most happy one 
evidencing in the strongest possible manner, " that Judge Maxwell left the Bench 
with the kindliest feelings of all parties." 

The late Samuel L. Southard the warm friends of his father and family in 1829 
while Secretary of the Navy, voluntarily forwarded to him a warrant as midship- 
man in the United States Navy. This he retained for some time, but finding that 
his mother was greatly opposed to his acceptance, he yielded to her wishes and 
resigned in May, 1830. He gave his first vote in approval of the principles held 
by the then National Republican party, afterwards merged into the Whig party, 
and has continued of that political faith unswervingly. He was a delegate to the 
National Convention in 1844 at Baltimore, when Clay and Frelinghuysen were 
nominated, and in 1846 was a candidate for Congress in the district called the 
Tenth Legion of Democracy, opposed to the Hon. Richard Brodhead, the nominee of 
the dominant party, when the usual majority of from 4000 to 5000 was reduced to 
about 1000. He was elected to fill a vacancy in the Town Council of Easton, in 
1853, when he was at once made President of Council. At the succeeding spring 
election he received the highest vote of any candidate, and continued President of 
Council until the spring of 1856, when be declined a re-election. At an encampment 
held at Easton in 1842, over which General George Cadwalader commanded, he was 
appointed Quarter Master General. The popular title of General was then accorded 
to him, which continued until his subsequent appointment of Judge. He has re- 
presented the party to which he is attached in numerous conventions, State and 
National, as also served very frequently upon their State Central Committees. 

Through his instrumentality a Young Men's Christian Association was organized 
in the borough of Easton in Dec, 1856, of which he was made President, and still 
continues to hold that position. He is also Secretary of the Fire Insurance Com- 
pany of Northampton County, Secretary and Director of the Easton Gas Company, 
and Director of the Easton Cemetery. He has also been for many years one of the 
Directors of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, also a member of the Historical 
Society of Pennsylvania, and one of the Vice Presidents of the Pennsylvania State 
Agricultural Society. He received the Honorary Degree of A. M., from Jefferson 
College, Canonsburgh, Pa., in 1844. 

In the practice of his profession, to which he has now returned, Judge Maxwell has 
been unusually successful. Frankness and cordiality, joined with quick business 
tact and unremitting industry, has given him an extraordinary hold on the confidence 



APPENDIX. 427 

of the community as a practitioner ; -while vigor of intellect, profound knowledge 
of the law, and the constant habit of thorough research have made him prominent 
as a jurist. It is a nattering commentary upon his career as a public man that, 
in the high positions, he has so frequently and satisfactorily occupied, a becoming 
dignity of position has never given way to insolence of office. Popular among all 
classes of his fellow citizens, because philanthropic in motive, tried in positions of 
trust and confidence while scarcely yet in his prime, we are safe in saying that he 
will gather honors as he gathers years. 

In the social qualities, too often overlooked in the estimate of character, Judge 
Maxwell is highly endowed. A nature generous to a fault, a kind word for every 
one, and a happy tact in ascertaining and gratifying the desires of those he is 
thrown in contact with, are qualities too rarely met, to pass unnoticed. Add to 
these a high moral character, and we can readily account for his commanding in- 
fluence in society. Active and energetic as ever, interesting himself in every 
good movement, Judge Maxwell stands prominent as one of the " high-minded men 
that fitly constitute a State." 



HON. HENRY KING. 

There are few men living in Eastern Pennsylvania, whose names are so intimately 
connected with so many of the important public measures of the commonwealth 
as the subject of this brief sketch ; nor any who bear their well-earned honors 
with more of true gentlemanly modesty than he. 

Entering the " Valley of the Lehigh" when it was comparatively unknown, he 
has ever since been most active in every movement that has tended to develop its 
wonderful resources, and this, too, without claiming or seeming to care whether 
his agency was known to others or not. 

Mr. King was born on the 6th day of July, A. D. 1790, in the town of Palmer, 
Hampden County, Massachusetts, and received the rudiments of his education in 
the local schools and seminaries of that county. When about fifteen years of age 
he became one of the few select pupils of the Rev. Ezra Witter, who resided in the 
town of Wilbraham, Hampden County, under whose care his general education 
was finished. 

In 1810 he commenced the study of the law in the office of W. H. Brainerd, Esq., 
an eminent lawyer of New London, Connecticut, with whom he remained until the 
autumn of 1812. 

In consequence of the disturbed condition of that part of the country, which was 
occasioned by the then existing war with Great Britain, his studies were inter- 
rupted, and finding that they could not be pursued there, he removed to Wilkes- 
barre, in this State, where he completed his preparation for the bar in the office of 
the Hon. Garrick Mallery, and was, on the motion of the Hon. John Ross, admitted 
to practice in the month of April, 1815. In the month following he removed to 
Allentown, Lehigh County, and was for some years the only resident lawyer in the 
county. Here, where he was thrown in contact with such minds as Sitgreaves, 
Ross, Wolfe, Evans, J. M. Porter, Smith, and other distinguished lawyers of that 
day, he rapidly arose to the highest position in the profession, and for many years 
led the bar of Lehigh. 

In 1825 he was elected to the Senate of Pennsylvania for a term of four years. 



428 APPENDIX. 

In 1829 he was re-elected. Before his second term expired, to wit, 1830, he was 
chosen as a representative in the Congress of the United States, which position he 
filled for four consecutive years. 

The volumes which contain the statutes of Pennsylvania from 1825 to 1831, are 
full of the results of his labors, having been for the most of that time at the head 
of several of the more important committees. He was chairman of the committee 
to re-model the penitentiary system of the State, and was at the same time, for a 
period of four years, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and also chairman of 
the Committee on Corporations (a new committee which was raised the second year 
after his election.) 

The bill which divided the State into districts, and established the Western 
Penitentiary was drafted by him, and was the first act on this subject. The next 
was the celebrated act of 1829, to reform the penal code, in the preparation of 
which he was assisted by the " Prison Discipline Society" of Philadelphia, whose 
favorite project it was. 

A commission had been appointed by the Governor, consisting of Joel B. Suther- 
land, T. J. Wharton, and Judge King, of Philadelphia, who were empowered to 
visit the prisons of the several States, and report to the legislature a system for 
the government of our penitentiaries. After a full examination they reported in 
favor of the New York system. This was strenuously opposed by the " Prison 
Discipline Society" of Philadelphia, who found in Mr. King an able and effective 
advocate in the Senate. After a severe struggle the plan now in force in Pennsyl- 
vania was adopted. He also drafted the bill under which the Arch and Walnut 
Street prisons in Philadelphia were removed, and the Moyamensing prison erected 
in their stead. 

So active had he been, and so closely was his name connected with these re- 
forms, that the commissioners appointed by the King of Prussia, to visit this 
country and report at length on the subject of the improved system of penitentiary 
punishments, sought him out in his quiet home at Allentown, that they might see 
him and hear from his own lips, the history and details of a system which was 
then attracting so much attention in the " European World." 

During his senatorial career, the great question of internal improvements came 
up, which from the outset was most strenuously opposed by Mr. King, not because 
he had any objections to railroads or canals, for he has since then shown himself 
to be their warmest friend when in proper hands, but because he saw in the way 
this scheme was commenced, that it must end in the system of wholesale plunder 
and threatened insolvency which has so crippled the energies and strained the 
reputation of our good old commonwealth. 

Several other important laws still in force on our statute books owe their origin 
to him ; among which may be mentioned the acts for " recording releases for pay- 
ment of legacies," for " preserving the lien of first mortgages," for " distributing 
the proceeds of sheriff's sales," and for the present admirable system of judgment 
and mortgage indexes, and the general preservation and supervision of the records 
of our courts. Many other laws prepared by him were included in and now make 
part of the revised code of Pennsylvania. 

In Congress, Mr. King was a thorough active tariff man, having voted for the 
tariff of 1832, and opposed every reduction since. Differing in this and some other 
matters, from the administration party under Gen. Jackson, he, at the close of his 
second term, retired to private life, where he has remained ever since. Notwith- 
standing his advanced age, Mr. King is a hale and hearty man, fond of out-door 



APPENDIX. 429 

exercises, and is in the enjoyment of the highest mental and "bodily health. "With 
a mind well stored with varied and accurate information, and manners that have 
all the dignity and courtesy of the old school, Mr. King has been for years, and is 
still, the centre of a large circle of acquaintances, who are proud to know him as 
their friend. 



ASA L. FOSTER. 

Asa L. Foster was horn on the 19th of August, 1798, in Hampshire (now 
Franklin) County, Massachusetts. His parents were descendants from the early 
settlers of Massachusetts colony, and one branch traces its genealogy back to the 
eccentric Captain Miles Standish, famed in history and in song. His parents died 
when he was quite young, but he found a home among his relatives, who, as he 
advanced in years, gave him the advantages of what was in those days termed, in 
New England, " a good common school education." 

At the age of twenty, like other young adventurers feeling a desire to see some- 
thing of the world beyond the green mountains of his native State, and realizing 
that he must, for the future, depend upon his own personal efforts, he started for 
what was then the "far west," and in 1818 entered the retail store of an elder 
brother who had preceded him, at Berwick, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, where 
he remained until 1822, when he married, and opened a store upon his own 
account, in Bloomsbury, in the same county. His store soon became popular, and 
his sales and traffic large. At that time there was very little money in circulation, 
and the merchant disposed of his goods in exchange for the products of the farm 
and the forest, which, from that locality, at that early day, were floated down the 
Susquehanna upon the spring and fall freshets, to Baltimore and other markets. 
If good luck attended the run of the arks, a fair return was generally realized by 
the merchant ; but if the arks were sunk, or broken upon the rocks, as was not 
unfrequently the case, the receipts and profits of several months' business were 
often a total loss. Such was the misfortune of the subject of this notice, who lost 
by one of these accidents all he had made in a fair business of three years. 

Closing his store business at Bloomsbury, he accepted a situation in the spring 
of 1826 in the large dry goods establishment of Messrs. Newkirk & Stryker, in 
Philadelphia, where he remained until May, 1827, when, having accepted an offer 
of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, he removed to Mauch Chunk and 
took charge of their extensive store at that place. Here he held the position of 
the " Lehigh Company's storekeeper," until they discontinued this department of 
their business. 

Mr. Foster soon became identified with the progress and advancement of the 
Lehigh region, and particularly of Mauch Chunk. As early as 1829, having ob- 
tained the consent of his employers, through their agent, Josiah White, acting 
manager, Mr. Foster purchased a press and materials for a printing-office, and 
having secured the services of Amos Sisty, a young acquaintance known to possess 
the requisite literary and mechanical talent, by paying his master for the unex- 
pired time of his apprenticeship, and arranging with him to conduct the paper in 
his (Sisty's) name, the publication of the first newspaper printed at Mauch Chunk 
was commenced in that year (1829), under the title "The Lehigh Pioneer and 
Mauch Chunk Courier." So great was the novelty and so deep the interest felt 



430 APPENDIX. 

in this new weekly messenger of intelligence from the coal mountains and lumber 
forests of the Lehigh, that for a few years it promised to be a profitable as well as 
useful enterprise. 

During the first three years of the publication of this paper, Mr. Foster devoted 
all the time he could spare from his employment of storekeeper, to writing and 
collecting matter for its pages ; and although we live in an age of "progress," very 
few if any of the country papers of the present day exhibit greater evidence of 
editorial or mechanical ability than that early " Pioneer." 

Without himself seeking prominence, but on the contrary of unassuming dis- 
position, Mr. Foster became one of the leading men of the region. He was among 
the foremost in advocating measures for the improvement of the town and neigh- 
borhood. An earnest advocate of the common school system, with which his New 
England training had made him familiar, his influence was united with that of 
the few who succeeded, in spite of the opposition which it at first met, in making 
it one of the permanent institutions of the Commonwealth. He was prominent 
also as a politician, and frequently received the nomination of his party for im- 
portant public offices, but the party being a hopeless minority, he was never 
elected, although his friends were sometimes inspired with the hope that his per- 
sonal popularity would be sufficient to overcome the large majority (more than 
two to one) against them. 

Mr. Foster is what is commonly termed a " far-seeing man," looking beyond 
the present, and closely calculating the future progress and resources of the 
country. Nearly thirty years ago he saw the vast revenue that would eventually 
be derived from the forests along the Upper Lehigh, and endeavored unsuccess- 
fully to induce men of capital to unite with him in the purchase of the lands 
which at that time were generally considered scarcely worth the taxes. While 
a resident of the iron region of Columbia County, he saw in the future the great 
wealth that would be derived from those rich deposits, and was one of the first 
who made systematic explorations, by means of shafts, to ascertain the location 
and extent of the ores, with a view to lease or purchase. The ore was found, 
but others profited more by the discovery. 

About the year 1834, the Lehigh Company laid out a portion of the present site 
of the borough of Mauch Chunk in lots, and offered them for sale. Mr. Foster 
immediately selected the lot upon which Judge Packer's block of buildings is now 
erected, at the corner of Broadway and Susquehanna Street, which at that time 
was the roughest and most undesirable in the plot. It was partly overflowed by 
the creek, and partly covered by an old mill-dam and race, and being lower than 
the " road," had been used for many years as a place for the deposit of stumps, 
old logs, stones, and, in short, all the refuse of the neighboring clearings. The 
reader can form some idea of the change effected at this point by the hand of 
improvement, when he is informed that from the street opposite the County Com- 
missioners' Office to the bridge over the creek at " Packer's Corner," there was so 
much descent, that the boys used it in the winter as a sliding place for their 
sleds. The agents of the company did not wish to sell this lot, but desired to 
retain it, probably for the uses for which it had long been found convenient, and 
had fixed the price at the enormous sum of $600, not supposing any one " would 
be foolish enough" to pay so much. Mr. Foster, however, looked beyond the rub- 
bish pile, and became the purchaser of the lot. His wisdom and foresight, then 
questioned by his friends, is established now. As many thousands would not buy 
the naked lot now as he paid hundreds then. 



APPENDIX. 431 

Upon this lot Mr. Foster, in company with Dr. B. Rush McConnell and James 
Brodrick, erected a store, and for several years carried on a profitable mercantile 
business. The interests of his partners were, during the time, purchased by Mr. 
Foster ; and, in 1837, having engaged in the coal business and removed to the 
Buck Mountain Mines, he sold the store and stock in trade to A. & R. W. Packer. 

In the winter of 1836 and 1837, Mr. Foster, who, in company with the heirs of 
Isaac A. Chapman, owned the lands upon which the Buck Mountain Company's 
mines are located, opened the coal upon them ; and associating himself with 
several wealthy gentlemen of Philadelphia, who had claimed an adverse title, 
which was compromised in the arrangement, organized the " Buck Mountain Coal 
Company," was appointed their superintendent, and directed the exploration of 
their lands and opening of their mines until they commenced the construction of 
their railroad, when he, in company with others, became the contractors for the 
whole work. Since 1837, Mr. Foster has devoted the greater portions of his time 
to the study of the geology of the anthracite coal formation, and has acquired a 
proficiency in this branch of the science which few if any excel. His explora- 
tions at the Buck Mountain mines were the keys which unlocked to him the 
treasures of the Great Black Creek basin ; and when, a few years since, men of 
capital and experience sought his advice as to a location for a coal business, this 
basin was readily selected, operations commenced, and where, four or five years 
since, the wilderness was undisturbed, is now a flourishing town of six or seven 
hundred inhabitants, actively and profitably employed. Other coal basins north 
of this, yet untouched, were many years since explored, and their coal limits 
defined by him for the owners of the lands, and his maps and descriptions have 
enhanced the value of their property one hundredfold, at an expense to them 
very little exceeding the wages paid for sinking the shafts and making the borings. 
Like many other men of talents and ability, his labors and developments have 
pecuniarily benefited other parties more than himself. 

"We have in this sketch exceeded our usual limits of biographical notices. Our 
apology, if any is required, must be that the subject of this notice was connected 
more generally with the progress and advancement of that part of the valley 
where he resided, than others who have been noticed in our history, while a por- 
tion of the sketch is historical in its details, showing the commencement and pro- 
gress of events which are worthy of note and preservation in our pages. 



HON. ASA PACKER. 

Hon. Asa Packer was born December 29th, 1805, in Mystic, Connecticut, and 
came to Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, when a youth, with few advan- 
tages for preferment in wealth and influence ; there he had a small " beech 
woods" farm, and also followed his trade as carpenter. He came to Mauch Chunk 
about twenty-seven years since, with his stock in trade, which consisted of the 
clothes on his back, a hand-saw, jack-plane, and stout heart, and indomitable de- 
termination to make his own way in the world, and, if report speaks true, with 
but very little change in his pocket. Here his honest and straightforward integrity 
soon procured him friends. In a short time we find him boating coal on the canal. 
From that he opened a store, then contracted for building dams on the upper navi- 
gation; next lessee of the Room Run Mines, belonging to the Lehigh Company, 



432 APPENDIX. 

then owner of his own coal mines near Hazleton, and contracted for constructing 
the Lehigh Valley Railroad (forty-seven miles) in 1853, which he prosecuted with 
great vigor. Although the formal contract with Judge Packer for the construction 
of the road was not signed until the 12th of February, 1853, yet he began the work 
immediately after the acceptance of the offer, on the 27th of November, 1852. On 
the 24th of September, 1855, he delivered the road to the Company, and it was 
accepted. In the construction of the road he encountered great difficulties and 
embarrassments, from the rise in the price of provisions and necessaries for the 
hands — the sickliness of some of the seasons, the failures of sub-contractors, and 
the necessity of re-letting the work at advanced prices ; and then the difficulty of 
raising money upon, and disposing of the bonds of the Company, from the strin- 
gency of the money market ; but with an energy and perseverance seldom met with, 
he worked through it all. During his residence at Mauch Chunk, he was a mem- 
ber of the State legislature two or three terms, during which he had Carbon 
County erected, then an associate judge of that county for five years, in which 
time he had frequently to hold the courts and try the cases, in consequence of the 
absence of the President Judge, and afterwards a member of Congress, from the 
celebrated 10th Legion of Pennsylvania, re-elected after having voted for the Ne- 
braska bill. Judge Packer has always enjoyed the reputation of being a very 
liberal, as well as correct business man ; he engaged in business with spirit, and 
was fortunate in various daring enterprises, which have placed him in affluent cir- 
cumstances. 

I mention these circumstances as an encouragement to our young men, to teach 
them what may be accomplished by a life of integrity, energy, and devotion to 
business. This hasty and brief sketch has been prepared, in lieu of a more 
lengthy biography which was intended to be written, but which, from circumstances 
beyond the control of the writer, it was impossible to complete in time for insertion. 



INDEX. 



Allentown, 261 

origin of name, 261 

tradesmen in 1776, 265 

early residents, 266 

present appearance of, 272 

great fire in, 273 

improvements in, 275 

seminary, 281 

papers published in, 285 

churches in, 282 

Bank, 285 

manufactures, 289 

Iron Company, 287 
Allen, fort, 322 

Arrival of first steamboat at Easton, 149 
Arndt, Capt. John, 102 

Jacob, 103 
Artillerists, Stockton, 344 



B 



Barren lands at Easton, 78 

Belvidere Delaware Railroad to Easton, 151 

Beaver Meadow Railroad, history of, 400 

Beaver Meadow, 364 

Bethlehem, 172 

first house in, 177 

sisters' house at, 179 

inhabitants in 1756, 197 

Sun tavern at, 201 

early trades and professions, 203 

test law in, 208 

oath of allegiance in, 211 

during the revolution, 212 

Washington at, 215 

in 1778, 217 

scenery at, 224 

islands, 226 

Seminary, 229 

graveyard, 230 

churches in, 231 

waterworks, 233 

manufactures in, 234 

South, 235 

township, petition for, 195 
Biographical sketches, 407 
Blue Mountain hermit, 331 



C 



Carbon County, 327 

early appearance of, 329 

30 



Catasauqua, 291 

schools in, 293 

churches, 293 

Bank, 293 

Iron Works, 294 

and Fogelsville Railroad Bridge, 298 
Captivity of the Gilbert family, 323 
Church, first at Easton, 65 
at Phillipsburg, 5 
Conferences with the Indians, 69, 72, 73 

rules observed at, 69 
Coplay, 300 
Coal, discovery of, 377 

fields, middle, 372 
Continental paper, value of, 108 
hotel bill paid by, 109 
meeting in relation to, 110 
Court-house at Easton, 76, 79 

petition against, 76 
Courts at Easton, early, 79 
Council Ridge Coal Company, 368 
Chain dam, 168 

Claim of Connecticut colonists, 20 
Craig, General Thomas, 312 
Craigs, 310 

Customs of early settlers, 44 
Curry's Ferry, 171 



D 



Depreciation of continental money, 108 
Discovery of coal, 377 
Distances of Switch-Back, &c, 356 
Difficulties in obtaining lodgings at Easton 
during conferences, 74 
interesting letters concerning, 74, 75 
Dry lands, 78 



Easton, when laid out, 48 
origin of name, 48 
original names of streets, 48 
geological formations at, 51 
in 1752, 51 
first dwellings in, 56 
ferry house at, 57 
erection of prison at, 57, 63, 67, 
town lots in 1753, 57 
families in 1752, 58 
history of early residents, 60 
first church and school in, 65 



434 



INDEX. 



Easton — 

condition of inhabitants during Indian 
wars, 68 

court-house at, 76 

taxables in 1763, 80 
in 1773, 81 

fate of a flirt in, 84 

in 1782, 91 

as a hospital during the revolution, 111 

military spirit in 1812, 115 

in 1798, 116 

incorporated, 118 

population of at different times, 119 

general description of, 119 

bridges, 120 

Water Company, 123 

banks in, 125 

Insurance Company, 125 

Cemetery, 126 

Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute, 127 

churches, 128 

Academy, 133 

public school system, 134 

Lafayette College at, 137 

papers, 140 

military and fire companies, 143 

manufactures, 146 

advantages of, 147 

South, 158 
Bckley, 367 
Edmunds. William, 36 

anecdote of, 37 



F 



Fate of a flirt, 84 
Ferry at Easton, 57 

at Ereemansburg, 171 
Feud between the Governor and Quakers, 17 
First European settlements, 17 
Freemansburg, 169 



G 



German immigrants, first, 20 
opinion of, 21, 22 

Ghost on Mount Parnassus, 13 

Gilbert family, captivity of, 323 

Glendon, 166 

Gnadenhutten, 317 

Indian massacre at, 319 
Benjamin Franklin at, 321 

Gordon Lewis, 59 



II 



Hauto, Geo. F. A., letter from, 386 

Hazleton, 365 

Hesenkoph, 45 

History of Lehigh Coal and Nav. Co., 375 
of Lehigh Valley Railroad, 395 
of Beaver Meadow Railroad, 400 

Hokendauqua, 299 
furnaces, 300 

Hopeville, 168 

Hostility of Indians, 25 

Hazleton Railroad, 365 



Indians, dissatisfaction with walking pur- 
chase, 16 

hostility of, 25 

dislike to the Irish, 25 

grievances, 70 

conference with, 69 

wars with, 25, 26 

treaty with, 15, 25 

causes of war with,' 27 

cease hostilities, 26 

peace with, 73 
Indian chief, Tatamy, 49 
• Phillip, 2 

Teedyuscung, 2, 27, 70, 71, 73 
Iron furnaces, South Easton, 163 

Cooper's, 7 

Glendon, 166 

Allentown, 287 

Catasauqua, 294 

Kokendauqua, 300 

Coplay, 301 

Parryville, 313 
Ironton Railroad, 301 



Jeansville, 366 
Jennings, Solomon, 36 



K 



Kichline, Peter, 92 



Laubaehsville, 301 

Laury's, 305 

Lehigh Zinc Works, 236 

and Luzerne Railroad, 369 

Coal and Navigation Company, 375 

tonnage of, 394 

Valley Railroad, 395 

Crane Iron Works, 294 

Slate Company, 306 

water gap, 308 
Lehighton, 314 

early history of, 317 
Lehigh County, 243 

early customs in, 250 

singular occurrence in, 259 

agricultural fair, 283 
Letters descriptive of Mauch Chunk, 35S 



M 

Marshall's Creek, 16 
Mauch Chunk, 334 

early appearance of, 336, 338 

churches, 342 

military of, 343 

Bank, 342 

public buildings, 345 

manufactures, 346 

scenery, 347 



INDEX. 



435 



Mount Pisgah Plane, 352 

Moore Township, 17 

Mountain, Hexenkoph, 45 
Parnassus, 12 

Moravians, cause of emigration, 172 
settlement at Nazareth, 176 
features of organization, 180 
marriage by lot, 185 
dress of, 188 
children, 189 

intercourse between the sexes, 191 
acknowledgments of errors, 192 
punishment of refractory, 194 
petition to assembly, 196 
property of, in 1763, 198 
graveyards, 230, 315 

Miner, Chas., letter from, 379 



N 



Nancy's Run, 169 

Nesquehoning, 361 

Northampton County, Old, 31 

first European settlements in, 17 

population of, in 1752, 18 

Irish emigrate to, 24 

danger during Indian wars, 25 

hardships of early settlers, 37 

petition for roads, 39, 56, 57 

occupation of farmers' families, 40 

wedding parties in, 40 

customs of early settlers in, 44 

early pioneers of, 19 

first road in, 55 

terror of the inhabitants in, 67 

reason for the erection of, 31 

origin of the name, 32 

first court held in, 32 

second court held in, 32 

first election, 33 

difliculties at elections, 34 

letters concerning election frauds, 35 

punishment of horse thieves in, 38 

owners of slaves in, 97 

non-associators in, 106 

true to all emergencies, 114 



Old Northampton County, 31 
Outline History of Pennsylvania, 14 



Parryville, 312 
Paint mines, 313 
Peace with Indians, 73 
Parsons, Grace, 64 

"William, 51, 58 
Palatinates, 20 

Pennsylvania, outline history, 14 
Penn, William, 14 

charter to, 14 

Indian grant to, 15 
treaty, 15 
Pennsylvania, divided into counties, 14 



Petition for wagon roads in Northampton 
County, 39 

bridge at Allentown, 271 
Plane, Mount Pisgah, 352 
Penn Haven, 363 
Pulaski's flag, 215 
Phillipsburg, 1 

situation of, 1 

origin of name, 1 

owners of the land in 1750, 3 

in 1849, 4 ' 

Land Company, 5 

advantages of, 5 

first church, 5 

sacramental relic in, 6 

schools, 6 

manufactures, 7 

bank, 10 

general appearance, 11 

scenery of, 12 



Q 



Quakers, influence of Germans, 23 



R 



Railroad, North Pennsylvania, 239 
New Jersey Central, 150 
Belvidere Delaware, 151 
Lehigh Valley, 395 
Beaver Meadow, 400 
Hazleton, 363, 365 
East Pennsylvania, 288 
Ironton, 301 

Catasauqua and Fogelsville, 298 
Lehigh and Luzerne, 369 
Lehigh and Susquehanna, 370 

Reward for scalps, 26 

Redemptioners, 21 

Rockport, 369 

Rockdale, 305 



S 



Shreiber's station, 300 
South Easton, 158 

laid out, 158 

water power, 159 

schools, 160 

manufactures, 161 

early manufacture of iron in, 163 
Song of the witches, 45 
Soldiers in the Revolution, 101 
Soul drivers, 22 

anecdote of, 22 
South Bethlehem, 235 
Shimersville, 170 
Slatington, 305 
Stockton, 366 
Shades of death, 330 
St. Anthony's wilderness, 20 
Switch-back Railroad, 349 

distances of, 356 
Sisters' House at Bethlehem, 179 

origin of, 1S2 
Spangenberg, Rev., 182 



436 



INDEX. 



Sitgreaves, Hon. Samuel. 407 

Chas., 11 
Siegfried, Col. John, 105 
Spring Mountain Mines, 365 



T 

Treaties, Indian, 15, 25 
Test act, 106 
Trial of John Pries, 255 
Tatamy, Indian chief, 49 
Taylor, George, 94 
Traill, Robert, 93 



W 



Washington, letters from General, 105 
War of 1812, 114 



Walking purchase, 15 

Wedding parties in olden times, 40 

Weatherly, 363 

Wetherill, 235 

Wechquetank, 313 

Weissport, 314 

Fort Allen at, 322 
Weiss, Col., 315 
Witches, 45 

trial of, 46 
Wish shiksy, meaning of, 72 
Wesley, Rev. John, 175 
Whipping-post, 80 
White Hall, 302 
White Haven, 370 



Zinzendorff, Count, 178 







To be completed in Five Numbers— Price 50 Cents each,— No. 1. 




HISTOET 



LEHIGH VALLEY. 



CONTAINING 



A COPIOUS SELECTION OP THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 



RELATING TO ITS 



HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES, ETC. 

it 

Illustrate fog mmxm dnpbiitp. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1S59, by Bixler & Corwin, in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Pennsylvania. 



PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & COR WIN, 

EASTON, PA. 
1859. 



!W 




COLLINS, PRINTER. 



BUTZ'S OLD SADDLERY. 

JOHN H. HECKMAN, 

T&o. X£> nSTorrtla. 3P , oixrt3i Street, 
E A STO N, PA., 

MANUFACTURER OF 

ADDLES, HARNESS, & TRUNKS, 

COLLARS, WHIPS, TRAVELLING BAGS, &c, 

AND DEALER IN 

BUFFALO ROBES, HORSE BLANKETS AND COVERS, FLY NETS, 

And in fact, everything connected with the Stable. 

A LARGE ASSORTMENT OP THE BEST MANUFACTURED 

LBATHEH BITS, on lismca.. 

These bits are now being used by the best horsemen in the country, and are far 
perior to any bit now in use. 

We have received premiums and diplomas at the late Fairs held at Easton,;Pa.^ 
nd Flemington, N. J., over all other Harness Makers and Saddlers for the be? 
jianufactured Harness, Saddles, and Bridles. All articles sold at this establishing 
ire warranted to be of better manufacture, and from ten to twenty per cent, cheap 
;han can be purchased elsewhere. 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. 

JOHN H. HECKMAN. 



P. F. EBLENBERGER'S 

JL JOl <ui* it JL J%. 

LOTHING EMPORIUM, 

No. 53 NORTHAMPTON STREET, 

S3 -A. S5 IP O 3>J% JE».A.. 



CLOTHING WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. 



CONSTANTLY ON HAND 



CLOTHS, CASSIMERES, AND TAILOR'S TRIMMINGS. 

ring mabe to mkt at % shortest iw&e. 



J8@* JOHN C. RICHARDS, the well known Cutter, will always be on band to gh 
neat fit to those in want of good Clothing. 



^ To be completed in Five Numbers— Price 50 Cents each,— No 




HISTORY 



LEHIGH VALLEY. 



CONTAINING 



A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 



RELATING TO ITS 



HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES, ETC. 

IMratrir fog \wmn% <$npbmp. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by Bixler & Couwin, in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Pennsylvania. 



w 



PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & COBWIN, 

EASTON, PA. 

1859. 



SMf)~ COLLINS, PRINTER. 




» *• 



BUTZ'S OLD SADDLER'S". 

JOHN H. HECKMAN, 

No. 19 IKToxrtla. IPouLi-tlx Street, 
E A STO N, PA., 

MANUFACTURER OF 

SADDLES, HARNESS, & TRUNKS, 

COLLARS, WHIPS, TRAVELLING BAGS, &c, 

AND DEALER IN 

BUFFALO ROBES, HORSE BLANKETS AND COVERS, FLY NETS, 

And in fact, everything connected with the Stable. 

A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF THE BEST MANUFACTURED 

These bits are now being used by the best horsemen in the country, and are far 
superior to any bit now in use. 

We have received premiums and diplomas at the late Fairs held at Easton, Pa., 
and Flemington, N. J., over all other Harness Makers and Saddlers for the best 
manufactured Harness, Saddles, and Bridles. All articles sold at this establishment 
are warranted to be of better manufacture, and from ten to twenty per cent, cheaper 
than can be purchased elsewhere. 

"WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. 

JOHN H. HECKMAN. 



P. F. EILENBERGER'S 

w xk o? ivr x ~%r 
it jljl y& XSL JL ^SL 

CLOTHING EMPORIUM, 

No. 53 NORTHAMPTON STREET, 

BASTOKT, FA. 



CLOTHING WHOLESALE AND RETAIL. 

CONSTANTLY ON HAND 

CLOTHS, CASSIMERES, AND TAILOR'S TRIMMINGS, 

(Orfjjing mak to mkx at % sjwrtet rite. 

fi@- JOHN C. RICHARDS, the well known Cutter, -will always be on hand to give a 
neat fit to those in want of good Clothing. 




«3S 

To be completed in Five Numbers— Price 50 Cents each.— No. 3. //STf 




HISTORY 



LEHIGH VALLEY, 

CONTAINING 

A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,"ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 

RELATING TO ITS 

HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES, ETC. 



BY 

M. S. HENRY. 

Illustrate bg mwxm inpiiinp. 



Entered fccording to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by Bixler & Corwin, in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Pennsylvania. 



PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & CORWIN, 
EASTON, PA. 
1859. 
affo 

„ '/iiVT) COLLINS, PRINTER. 




, 



^ To be completed in Five Mumpers— Price 50 Cents each.— No. 4. jyf 




LEHIGH VALLEY 



CONTAINING 



A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 



RELATING TO ITS 



HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES, ETC. 

BY 

M. S. HENRY. 
Illustrate fog nuiMwa inplimp. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year'1859, by Bixler & Corwin, in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Pennsylvania. 






PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & CORWIN, 

EASTON, PA. 

1859. 



COLLINS, PRINTER. 




Dealers can be supplied 
with COOKING STOVES in 
all their variety, from one 
of the largest stocks to be 
found in any one establish- 
ment in the country, among 
which are a number that 
have become celebrated for 
operation and durability. 

They also manufacture 
tinned and enamelled HOL- 
LOW WARE of every des- 
cription. PHILADELPHIA. 

Price List and Catalogue furnished by mail or otherwise, by sending your address to 




LEIBRANDT & McDOWELL, 

I*liil£ic3Lel^Dla.ia« 





6M3 
To be completed in Five Numbers— Price 50 Cents each,— No. 5. tf% 



HISTORY 



LEHIGH VALLEY, 



CONTAINING 



A COPIOUS SELECTION OF THE MOST INTERESTING FACTS, TRADITIONS, 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, "ANECDOTES, ETC. ETC., 



RELATING TO ITS 



HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES. 



A COMPLETE HISTORY OF ALL ITS INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 

PROGRESS OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADE, 

MANUFACTURES. ETC. 

BY 

M. S. HENRY. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1S60, by Bixler & Corwin, in the Clerk's Office of 
the District Court of Pennsylvania. 




PUBLISHED BY BIXLER & CORWIN, 

EASTON, PA. 

1860. 



COLLINS, PRINTER. 




FINE AMERICAN LEVER WATCHES. 



TO THOSE IN WANT OF A GOOD ARTICLE, 

THE SUBSCRIBER OFFERS THE LARGEST ASSORTMENT OF 

Pafcjp*, Jei»bg, |fe atxtt ||W& paw, 

SPECTACLES, THIMBLES, GOLD PENS, 

NAPKIN RINGS, CLOCKS, BRITANNIA WARE, ETC., 

TO BE FOUND IN EASTON, 

At prices to defy competition. Look at the following, and judge. 

Gold Lever Watches, full Jewelled .... from $26 00 to $120 j > 
Gold Lepine Watches " .... 20 00 H 

m 

Silver Lepines and Levers of all kinds . . . " 9 00 to 50 rj 

Gold Fob, Vest, Guard, and Neck Chains . . . " 4 00 to 30 

Gold Finger Rings . . . . . " 50 to 35 

Coral, Cameo, Mosaic, Lava, and Plain Gold Breastpins and Ear Rings ; Mourning 
Pins for Hair and Daguerreotypes ; Gents' Pins, Studs, and Sleeve Buttons ; Ladies' 
Band ; Engraved and Plain Bracelets ; Gold and Silver Thimbles ; Medallions ; Gold, 
Silver Plated, and Steel Specs ; Silver and Plated Tea and Table Spoons, Forks, J" 
Ladles, and a large assortment of Jewelry of every description. 

Clocks from $1 upwards. A written guarantee given with, every clock. 

GEO. B. TITUS, 

Call and see. 71 Northampton Street, Easton, Pa 



r 
< 
m 

> 

z 
o 



PLATED CAKE BASKETS. 



SEMPLE & BROTHER, 

WHOLESALE -A_ND EETAIL 



k «? vy> ^ <§ <w § %&$ 

ISTo. 121 KTo»i?tla.sMi3.x>tc3ix street, 

EASTON, PA., 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

WHITE LEAD, ZINC PAINTS, COLORS IN OIL, 
CAMPHENE, BURNING FLUID, &c. 

DEALERS IN 

Tarnishes of every description, 

BB068, GH11IIGALS, ?Y|~8f 0??8, MIM„ 

PERFUMERY, 

PURE LIQUORS FOR MEDICINAL USE. 
AND AGENTS FOR ALL THE POPULAR PATENT MEDICINES OP TIIE DAY. 



South Easton, Pa. 
FRANCIS M. WELLS, Proprietor. 



MANUFACTURER OP 



AGRICULTURAL MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS. 

STEAM ENGINES, MINING, WELL, 

AND 

MILL IRONS, HOUSE CASTINGS, IRON RAILINGS, ETC. ETC. 

His iron-framed, double-geared Horse-powers are the best in the world. They 
move as glibly as the best tread-powers; will do more work with equal team; will 
wear twice as long without repairs; and will not stiffen or kill horses. His cast-steel 
stafted, iron-framed, and truly balanced Threshing Machine is of the same order, 
and is pronounced by all who have them in use, as unequalled. 

Mjg* All work executed in the best style, of the best materials, and at low prices. 



IF YOTJ WA.ISTT TO BUY 





HATS, CAPS, 

T 1 TOW 9 W A W^IT WTTI>1? 



OR 



CHILDREN'S FANCY HATS AND CAPS 

OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS, 

O TO HEISS' 
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL CASH STORE, 



FINE AMERICAN LEVER WATCHES. 



TO THOSE IN WANT OF A GOOD ARTICLE, 

THE SUBSCRIBER OFFERS THE LARGEST ASSORTMENT OF 

PaMj0, Jefetey, pilfer atttr ||lat& Paw, 

SPECTACLES, THIMBLES, GOLD PENS, 

NAPKIN RINftS, CLOCKS, BRITANNIA WARE, ETC., 

TO BE FOUND IN EASTON, 

At prices to defy competition. Look at the following, and judge. 

Gold Lever Watches, fall Jewelled . . . . . from $26 00 to $120 

Gold Lepine Watches " .... 20 00 

Silver Lepines and Levers of all kinds . . " 9 00 to 50 

Gold Fob, Vest, Guard, and Neck Chains . . " 4 00 to 30 

Gold Finger Rings . . . . . . ". 50 to 35 

Coral, Cameo, Mosaic, Lava, and Plain Gold Breastpins and Ear Rings ; Mourning 
Pins for Hair and Daguerreotypes ; Gents' Pins, Studs, and Sleeve Buttons ; Ladies' 
Band ; Engraved and Plain Bracelets ; Gold and Silver Thimbles ; Medallions ; Gold, 
Silver Plated, and Steel Specs ; Silver and Plated Tea and Table Spoons, Forks, 
Ladles, and a large assortment of Jewelry of every description. 

Clocks from $1 upwards. A written guarantee given with every clock. 

GEO. B. TITUS, 

^j^T Call and see. 71 Northampton Street, Easton, Pa. 

PLATED CAKE BASKETS. 



SEMPLE & BROTHER, 

WHOLESALE .A-DNTD RETAIL 

ISTo. 121 IKTc>x ,, t;l3.£i3aa.^>tc>EL Street, 
EASTON, PA., 

MANUFACTURERS OF 

WHITE LEAD, ZINC PAINTS, COLORS IN OIL, 
CAMPHENE, BURNING FLUID, &c. 

DEALERS IN • 

Varnishes of every description, 

BftfffiS* CH1IKIGJIL8, BTJhfl.WFS, AGIB8» 

3E» 3E3 H. IE" XT Ti/L DE3 XI "X" , 

®II®&IB3 ®{? AkiL &IBM9GD@» 

PURE LIQUORS FOR MEDICINAL USE. 

AND AGENTS FOR ALL THE POPULAR PATENT MEDICINES OF THE DAY. 



South Easton, Pa. 
FRANCIS M. WELLS, Proprietor. 



MANUFACTURER OP 



AGRICULTURAL MACHINES AND IMPLEMENTS, 

STEAM ENGINES, MINING, WELL, 

AND 

oistehn :f»tt:m::e»s, 
mill irons, house castings, iron railings, etc. etc. 

His iron-framed, double-geared Horse-powers are the best in the world. They 
move as glibly as the best tread-powers; will do more work with equal team; will 
wear twice as long without repairs; and will not stiffen or kill horses. His cast-steel 
stafted, iron-framed, and truly balanced Threshing Machine is of the same order, 
and is pronounced by all who have them in use, as unequalled. 

5®"" All work executed in the best style, of the best materials, and at low prices. 

IF YOU W^ItsTT TO BUY 

(Stoofo, fl$raqj, aitfc faspuiraWi 





HATS, CAPS, 



OR 



9 

CHILDREN'S FANCY HATS AND CAPS 

OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS, 

C3rO TO lEXIESJSiS'iS 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL CASH STORE, 



WHITE'S EASTON HOTEL 

North-West Corner of Centre Square, 
^757% 11- ABEL, 3E*ror>:rxeto:r., 



This Hotel is situated in one of the most pleasant parts of the town. 
The rooms are large and well furnished, and the table always contains 
the very best the market affords. 

From the reputation this Hotel has heretofore had with the travelling 
community, the Proprietor flatters himself that their patronage will be 
continued. 

Omnibuses in waiting at the different Depots, 




IT VEB'l 



HOTEL, 



Nos. 117 and 119 NORTH SECOND STREET, 



3VE a Jb£JiSX33IjE3H., Proprietor. 



This house has recently been thoroughly renovated, and adapted to 
the wants of the travelling community. Every effort will be made to 
satisfy its patrons and yield them the comforts of a home. 

The rooms are well arranged, servants under strict discipline, and the 
Proprietor gives his personal attention. 

The table will be supplied with the best the market affords. 

Travellers can take the City Cars at the various depots, and come to 
the house direct for five cents. 



liar 



^ rM 



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No. 52 NORTHAMPTON STREET, 



THE FINEST AND MOST APPROVED 

ALWAYS ON HAND. 

ALL GARMENTS CUT ON THE MOST SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES, BY ACTUAL^ 
MEASUREMENT, AND BY THE MOST EXPERIENCED CUTTERS, 

Slisfits seldom occurring at this establishment 



TlIHffi 



Mi 0F Will BBttlWi 

THE VERY BEST 



BLACK AND BLUE BLACK LYONS & GENO 



ALWAYS ON HAND. 

la fact a better cloth, better trimmings, and a better fit and Work- 
manship can be had at No. 52, than at any other 
establishment in Easton, 

BLOWERS, BARKERS, AND RHYMESTERS, 

To the contrary notwithstanding. 

l>on ? t forgot tlx© niimTDer, 



And. tli.© name. 



J. H. WILKIIMC. 



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